Konoha's Tracking Hound
by GreyGryph
Summary: Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though. [AU][Eventual Spoilers][Adult Themes]
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** PG-13 (for now)

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU

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**Chapter 1**

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Something was wrong. Every single instinct, honed over the years in training told her that much. She could feel the wrongness slinking towards her. It made her stomach feel like it was being tied in knots. Very, very complicated knots. There was nothing around her. No comforting presences for her to lean against as the wrongness drew nearer and nearer.

Her father wasn't hovering somewhere nearby, like he always seemed to be when things got bad. He'd been there during her first chunnin exam when she and her team had gone into the second exam and found themselves pitted against a team that wasn't afraid to kill anyone who stood in their way. She and her teammates had survived the encounter, by the skin of their teeth. They'd been bruised and bloodied and her arm was broken, but they were alive, and what's more, they had actually beaten the other team. The night after the exam ended, the day before the third part, she had broken down and her father had been there, all comforting smiles and warm hugs. She'd confessed that she'd killed one of the other shinobi and her father had been quiet for a moment. Then he told her of his first kill, and how he had been a wreck for a month afterwards.

She wanted her father now. The wrongness was there, looming in the distance and she craved her father's warm presence and barking laugh. She didn't care anymore that they had fought the night before. That they'd gone to bed angry after a screaming fight.

She wanted her mother as well, even though she'd always been somewhat distant since her only daughter and child had joined the academy as a child and decided she wanted to be a kunoichi. Her mother had still always been there, with a smile as she tried to find a way to relate with her warrior daughter who took after her father all too much.

She wanted her sensei, the man who'd become another uncle to her as he guided her and her teammates through their early years of their careers as shinobi. He had always been a silent support to her, with words of guidance and a quiet laugh. Sensei was always there to watch her back if she and her team got in over their heads and she knew he always hated putting them in any dangerous position. His specialization at being a bodyguard becoming blatantly obvious when the danger levels got too high for her and her teammates. He'd appear before them, sword drawn, throwing an apologetic smile over his shoulder. He was a protector, he couldn't help it.

She wanted her teammates, even if they did act like idiots half of the time. There was no trouble the three of them could face and fail against. The two boys who'd become closer than brothers, her very closest friends who she trusted with all her mind to keep her safe. She craved for their strong, confident presences to appear on either side of her, silently lending strength to stand against this approaching evil. She could almost hear them, cracking jokes and trying to cheer her up even as death and destruction rained down upon them. She could hear them teasing her into moving. She could hear them making no noise at all, simply standing on either side of her, close enough that their shoulder's touched.

She wanted to feel the comforting warmth of her partner for so many years now. The massive charcoal canine who was always by her side. His silent skepticism at the hair brained plans her teammates came up with. His wide canine grin and off hand comments proving his intelligence to be on par with a human, and his insulted expression when someone made that particular comparison. His pack driven mind and odd way of combining human intelligence with canine-understanding, where there was no team, only pack, and an unspoken hierarchy too complicated to be put to words.

She was all alone in the darkness as the wrongness approached. She could already feel the heat of the fires that would follow in its wake and smell the blood in the air. Disaster was approaching and she was all alone. The feeling of solitude made her more scared than the sinister feeling approaching. She was a pack-animal.

"Moriko!" someone was calling her, their deep voice so familiar her heart leapt for joy. She wasn't alone!

"Moriko! Wake up! There's an emergency!" Moriko's eyes snapped open and she saw her father stick his head in her room. He was wearing a grim expression and he was already wearing his jounin uniform. His vest was still unzipped but he was quickly tying his forehead protector on securely. At his side, Naito, his own canine partner stood, black fur making him look like nothing more than a shadow beside her father. "The Kyuubi no Youko is on its way here. Hokage-sama is calling for all shinobi to meet at the Hokage tower." Inuzuka Hige said, face grim.

Moriko swallowed. The feeling of wrongness hadn't vanished with her dream. It was still there looming in the distance. She nodded to her father, not trusting her own voice. Hige nodded back and vanished from her door frame closing the door as he left.

Moriko rolled out of bed and grabbed her nearest set of combat clothes. A pair of thick kaki Capri's with enough room to allow for easy movement, lined with wire mesh for added protection. A specialty fishnet, wire mesh shirt went on over her sports bra and a black tank top on top of that. Finally she strapped on the arm bracers her father had given her for her birthday the year after she'd broken her arm in her first chunnin exam. She shrugged into her jacket to ward off some of the early October chill that had covered Konohagakure.

As she grabbed her own forehead protector and tied it around her neck she glanced at her disheveled bed where Kumori, her half-grown charcoal hybrid partner lay, watching her intently.

"You ready to go Kumori?" She asked quietly. The dog regarded her for a moment and nodded his head.

"I'm ready. Lets go find the pack and hear what the plan is." He said, using canine language—barks, growls, and yips that the Inuzuka clan had learned to distinguish long ago as a spoken tongue. It was as familiar to Moriko after years of hearing it, as the plain spoken tongue of human beings. Unlike her Father's hound Naito and her Aunt Tsume's Kuromaru, Kumori couldn't speak in the human language.

Moriko and Kumori headed downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat before they set off. Hige was standing by the door next to his wife, Moriko's mother, Kyoko speaking quietly. As Moriko neared them Hige gave her mother a kiss and a soft smile before turning to Moriko he offered her a napkin full of rice balls.

"You can eat as we go, we need to get to the Hokage tower quickly." He said simply.

Moriko nodded and accepted the napkin, following her father from the house. Moriko felt her stomach try to tie itself into a knot even as she took a bite of a rice ball. At least the steady churning of her legs was comforting. The route to the Hokage tower from their house near the Inuzuka compound was second nature to Moriko now, although she couldn't remember ever seeing so many other shinobi moving as one towards the tower.

Moriko glanced a second towards where the wrongness of the approaching demon was growing in the distance. An eerie reddish glow had started to appear on the horizon, despite the fact that the sun was not anywhere near rising yet.

As Hige and Moriko met the sea of gathering shinobi Moriko saw her father vanish in amongst the other jounins of the village. Moriko glanced around and caught sight of several of her fellow chunnin and eventually spotted her teammates.

Apparently Izumo and Kotetsu had spotted her at the same time because they appeared beside her a second later. There were no words exchanged, even when Raidou-sensei appeared nearby and they followed him to where the Hokage would be speaking and assigning orders for all the shinobi in Konoha.

Moriko reveled in the quiet moment then. Her standing with her team as if it was just another mission they were waiting to be assigned. It was strangely surreal and Moriko found herself half zoning out as she leaned against her teammates.

Kotetsu had stolen her napkin of rice balls and was eating one as he eyed the one with a single bite in it.

"You should finish that off, Moriko-chan." He said as he swallowed, he offered her the napkin but Moriko didn't move to take it.

"I don't think I can keep it down if I eat it, Kotetsu. Go ahead. Share with Izumo and Raidou-sensei too if they want it." Moriko said quietly.

Izumo took one but Raidou-sensei shook his head when offered. "I already ate this morning. Moriko, you really should eat it. You'll need it today." He said and gazed out over the almost sea of shinobi and kunoichi that had gathered.

Moriko reluctantly picked up the rice ball and slowly ate it in small bites, forcing it down and commanding her stomach to keep it there, her sensei's words were echoing in her mind _'You'll need it today.'_ Kami-sama. This felt so horribly like the war that had just ended against Iwagakure. She hadn't been anywhere near the front lines there, but she had still felt the tension and exhaustion that followed every shinobi involved.

The horrible nervous tension that filled the space was accompanied by almost perfect silence. Nobody seemed able to speak over an almost whisper and Moriko found it somewhat eerie when, as one, the entire crowd of shinobi and kunoichi, all trained assassins and warriors, fell silent as a figure exited the Hokage tower.

Clad in his standard jounin uniform, flap jacket, and long flame hemmed overcoat, Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, exited the Hokage tower, his face grim and void of any of the normal smile he always seemed to wear. His blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes made him stand out starkly against the standard dark hair and eyes prominent in Konoha.

Moriko felt a small flicker of relief fill her chest as the Hokage gazed out over the entirety of Konoha's forces. Finally the man seemed satisfied with something and nodded slightly to himself.

"As I'm sure all of you are already aware, the demon Kyuubi no Youko is heading straight for us and wiping out anything that stands in its way. We don't know exactly why its heading towards us or what we may have done to anger if, or even if we have angered it at all. All we know is that it is coming to destroy us, and we need to stop it before it reaches the city. We have the day to prepare for the attack as all of our scouts' estimates put the biju here at nightfall. We're lucky we have this long to prepare. All shinobi will be needed to defend the village, but obviously we aren't sticking our genin and green chunnin out on the front line, so we've broken down our defense strategy b y ranks.

"Our ANBU and Jounin will be at the front. Tokubetsu jounin and seasoned chunnin behind them and newly promoted chunnin and genin in the back. Now, the First and second rows will be the only attacking forces in the village, and the second row is also in charge of keeping an eye out for the back row, which will be evacuating the civilians into the Hokage Monument and taking up defensive positions there.

"I have a plan to stop the Kyuubi, but it will take several hours of preparation and may not be ready until after the biju has begun its attack on us." The Yondaime grimaced a bit and Moriko found herself wondering why he wouldn't go into more detail on his plan. The blonde haired Hokage regained composure and began issuing orders for stockpiles of supplies be moved to the Monument and evacuation of civilians to begin immediately. Before the village's shinobi dispersed to begin preparations for the attack, the Hokage looked down at all of his shinobi and kunoichi—his loyal soldiers—and gave them a proud smile, "Let us all prove to the stupid fox why he should have thought twice about attacking Konoha and it's Will of Fire." He said, giving them all the determined grin they knew so well.

Moriko felt a weight get lifted from her shoulders as he said so. A cheer went up in the crowd and Moriko found herself among those cheering. Here was her leader, the alpha of the village, whom she would follow to death if he asked her to.

Moriko felt pride and adoration fill the space where her nervous butterflies had abandoned. She always envied the Hokage's easy leadership and his way of ensuring loyalty. He oozed confidence and power from ever fibre of his being and, despite that, didn't use it to force loyalty onto his subjects. Instead, he befriended them all. He learned all their names and spoke to them earnestly when he met them on the street. He fought alongside them in war and cried alongside them when their comrades died. He made sure to show them all that he was a soldier too, and, above all that he was human.

He made no effort to hide his flaws from his fellow soldiers. It was no secret how much he loathed paperwork, and almost every shinobi in the village had an origami piece of some sort that had once been a draft of a mission or a law. Moriko herself had a small origami dog that had once been a draft of a law concerning early admittance into the academy. The Hokage had given it to her as he gave her teammates each their own pieces when they'd completed an important mission delivering a scroll to Kumogakure.

Moriko drifted out of her memories as her teammates turned in to face each other, they turned as one to form a triangle, with all three of them facing each other. Izumo and Kotetsu grinned at each other and stuck their hands out in the center. Moriko's hand automatically followed suit

"Lets all promise that we'll all meet up here again when this is all over." Izumo said.

Kotetsu nodded determinedly, "We'll all be here and we'll always watch out for each other."

"And we'll work together as one." Moriko agreed, the three of them all turned and looked up at Raidou-sensei, who was still standing nearby, a smile on his face.

"And you'd better be here too, Raidou-sensei." Kotetsu said, crossing his arms across his chest, "Or we're going to have to go find you and yell at you for forgetting the plan again."

Raidou rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I already apologized for that." He said, "And besides, I won't forget this plan. I've still got too much to teach you brats." He finished fondly and turned away, calling back over his shoulder as he left to begin his assigned preparations, "I'll see you three when this is done."

Moriko, Izumo, and Kotetsu all grinned at their sensei as he left then turned to face one another. "Lets get started then." Moriko said, slipping into the leadership role somewhat reluctantly. She did, however, outrank her teammates, whom hadn't yet gotten promoted to chunnin. The three of them headed off to their assigned district to begin waking the civilians and warning them of the evacuation.

That day, the whole of Konoha was milling anxiously as civilians gathered their necessities and headed towards the Hokage monument directed along by the chunnin and genin teams of Konoha. Moriko, Izumo, and Kotetsu all had their hands full helping some of the richer merchants leave behind frivolous things until A distant roar caused everyone in the village to freeze and shiver, then continue their work at a brisker pace.

The sun was sinking steadily towards the horizon and the eerie red glow on the horizon was getting brighter and more distinct. As the sun finally disappeared behind the horizon, the last of the civilians where lead into the deep tunnels hidden in the Monument.

The young chunnin and genin population of Konoha set themselves up in defensive positions around the Monument. Moriko felt her stomach get doused in ice when, in the distance, the eerily glowing body of Kyuubi no Kitsune appeared from behind the distant mountains.

It was huge. Towering over the ancient forest of massive trees Konoha was known for as if it was standing on someone's front lawn of neatly trimmed grass.

It's massive face was turned towards Konoha and with an earth shaking roar it charged towards the village.

As the biju's killing intent washed over the village Moriko felt her body shake in fear. This was her death approaching. There was no way she could avoid it, she should just stand there and wait for the end. It had completely overwhelmed her fight or flight instinct and left her paralyzed.

Her enhanced hearing picked up the screams of terror from the civilians even from deep within the monument and Moriko's mind instantly shut off the fear receptors and flipped into protect mode. This was her village and she was to protect it with her life. Fear was a silly thing anyways. If she was going to die, she was going to die and not much could stop that. All she could do was try her hardest to make her killer die alongside her.

"Izumo! Kotetsu!" She barked at her teammates, feeling determination fill her mind. The two boys looked at Moriko, eyes wide. When they took in Moriko's composed face they instantly snapped to attention. "We're shinobi of Konhagakure. We don't stop and lie down for anyone. We fight with all we have and then we pull strength from our friends and we fights some more. We take down the stupid bastards who try and kill us, or at the very least we make them die for killing us." She said, voice low. The boys nodded, regaining control of their bodies and turning to their fellow gennin and chunnin.

"You all heard her! We lie down for nobody, and nothing!" Kotetsu said, catching the attention of the other Monument defenders.

"Hokage-sama entrusted us with the lives of the civilians," Another of the chunnin present, whom Moriko recognized as Mitarashi Anko said. The girl had a fierce grin on her face, "I don't know about you, but I ain't letting the Hokage down."

Moriko glanced at Anko and gave the other chunnin a grateful smile as the rest of the chunnin and genin composed themselves.

The Kyuubi roared and the earth shook. The attack had begun.

-

**End Note:** My whole reason for posting this is for easy access for friends and for pure fun.

Constructive criticism is welcome as are reviews (I won't deny they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside), but I won't beg for them.

Please, if you don't like it, just stop reading it, I may not be your favorite writer and you may not agree with how I write people, but there is no need to write nasty notes and tell me that I'm wrong.

This is a work of fanfiction, pure and simple, and I'm not looking to impress anyone, but I am proud of this (as raw and unrefined as it is and how I haven't even re-read it yet) and my friend wanted to read it (and my e-mail doesn't seem to want to send attachements).

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see this through to 50,000 words.

**-Greygryph**


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** PG-13 (for now)

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU

-

**Chapter 2**

Within minutes the fighting and carnage at the front of the ranks was thick. Devastating jutsu's were being thrown at the massive biju. Dragons made of earth and water smashed into the demon and the kitsune growled at them, then slammed its tails to the ground. Leveling parts of the forest.

In what felt like days but was only a few hours, the Konoha forces were barely holding out against the demon. Moriko had been called forward to the combat zone with the other chunnin. She flashed through hand seals and directed her chakra into the earth, calling out the name of a jutsu of her own creation, "Doton: Maikai Kanshisha no Jutsu!"

Near one of the Kyuubi's legs three massive dog heads made of rock burst out of the earth and latched onto the leg. The Kyuubi tore it's leg away with a growl and Moriko was dismayed to see the bite wounds already healing. Moriko was already firing up another Maikai Kanshisha no Jutsu, face grim. She couldn't allow the demon time to recover.

"Hokage-sama is coming!" Someone yelled, "Hold the demon!"

Moriko could hear the thumping of something large approaching at high speeds and spared the noise a glance. A massive toad was crossing the distance from the Hokage tower to the battlefield with leaps and bounds. Atop it's head, barely more than a speck compared to the massive size of the toad, was a familiar figure with his long white and flame trimmed coat.

Moriko, flashed through hand signs and pumped as much chakra into the technique as she dared, This time the three canine heads were twice the size as before and caused much more damage to the leg they latched on to. Moriko held the last seal and grit her teeth, fighting to hold the jutsu in place as long as she could.

All around the Kyuubi other's were performing jutsu's to hold the nine-tailed demon lord. Earth jutsus seemed to be the element of choice and soon mud walls and dragons were holding down the rest of the demon's legs as well as several of its tails. Moriko was relived when someone else sent a holding jutsu to the leg Moriko's rock canines were latched on to.

The Kyuubi roared its anger and then the Hokage was before him. He flashed through some hand seals and cried out "Shiki Fuujin!"

For an instant it seemed like nothing happened then a hazy figure began to appear behind the Yondaime. At it's appearance the Kyuubi roared it's anger and tried to jerk back, but the combined efforts of the remaining Konoha nin kept it in place. The hazy figure began to take on a distinct shape and Moriko felt the bottom of her stomach drop out.

The Yondaime had summoned the Shinigami. The God of Death. Wearing old samurai armor and having no visible face, the god towered over even the Kyuubi. It slowly reached out and grasped the fox by the scruff of it's neck and pulling. With a howl of pain the Kyuubi's soul was ripped forward, out of it's body, which, being a simple manifestation of the demon's chakra disappeared back within its soul.

Then, the Shinigami and the Kyuubi seemed to stretch out and slowly, the Shinigami itself seemed to fade with the glowing red of the Kyuubi seemed to whip around like a wind and then get sucked into the Hokage tower like a whirlpool.

With a defining roar the red chakra vanished and silence fell on the village.

Then the village seemed to explode into cheers. Moriko herself couldn't find the energy to cheer but instead grinned happily and in exhaustion. All eyes turned to the Hokage who suddenly teetered and collapsed forward off of the massive toad whom then exploded in a cloud of smoke.

The cheers turned into cries of dismay and shock at their Hokage fell to the earth. Moriko felt sudden dread fill her stomach as the Yondaime Hokage was caught by several shinobi before he hit the ground.

Moriko knew, to the very core of her soul, that Namikaze Minato was dead. Tears were already threatening to fall from her eyes at the thought. Instead of allowing them she turned to Kumori who was panting next to her. They both knew what needed to be done next.

All the surviving shinobi snapped into action as their sense of duty and experience with such situations took over any thoughts they had to stop or collapse. They would mourn when their comrades were all treated and safe, and when the rest of the dead were accounted for. Teams formed almost instantaneously, as shinobi latched onto their closest comrades and set about recovering the injured and dead from the destroyed forest outside Konoha.

Moriko and Kumori found herself quickly teamed up with a Aburame she'd never met before as well as two other shinobi without large, easily identifiable clans. Kumori and Moriko took point wordlessly as their noses would be the best bet at finding comrades buried under fallen trees and smashed rocks.

They quickly found several injured shinobi who waved them off then they stopped to help them. "We were the lucky ones. We didn't get hit with trees. Inuzuka-san made sure we got out of the way before they hit." One of them said with a groan as he pressed a hand to his broken arm.

Moriko felt her blood run cold. Her nose quivered as she caught the scent of humans under the pile of shattered trees and loose earth and rocks. Moriko and Kumori quickly pinpointed several more unconscious and dead shinobi in that particular jumbled and then something caught Moriko's eye that made her freeze.

Naito, her father's loyal hound's, body was lying half crushed under a log. His black fur matted with blood and caked with dirt, and one of his legs mostly gone. Moriko's eyes desperately searched the nearby wreckage of a forest until she spotted a splotch of red amongst the trees and earth. It was the red swirl shoulder patch of all standard Jounin and Chunnin uniforms. Directly underneath the swirl patch was what caught Moriko's eye. There was a second patch with a red fang on it stitched to the arm. It was her father's personal touch to his uniform.

"Tou-san." She whispered in shock and then bolted forward, digging desperately in the dirt to unearth her father. She quickly found that he was half crushed beneath the very same tree that had pinned Naito. When she brushed aside the branches covering his face, and chest a shuddering breath sounded.

"Tou-san." She whispered again and looked around desparately, "Help! I need help! Medic!" she screamed desperately. She felt her father's hand reach out and gently grasp Moriko's own. Tears were streaming down Moriko's face now and she clung to her father's hand even as his eyes squinted open and a small smile flickered across his face.

"My…little…Moriko-chan." He sighed out and blinked slowly, "Grow…up strong…my little hound." He breathed even as his eyelids drooped closed and his hand fell limp.

"No! Tou-san!" Moriko cried out and desperately grasped her father's flack jacket with both fists. "Tou-san, you can't die! You swore!" She choked out "You swore you'd always be there!" she sobbed and collapsed over her father's chest, heedless to the world surrounding her.

It wasn't until a strong set of arms gently pulled her off her father that she even became aware of the outside world again. Moriko was pulled into a comforting hug and the familiar scent of Raidou-sensei filled her nose. Moriko fisted her hands in her teacher's uniform and clung to him, sobbing. She wasn't even aware that she was still on the ground then until she'd exhausted her tears and simply lost all the energy she had left.

She leaned against Raidou, her forehead resting on his shoulder as he held her, doing his best to sooth her. Finally Moriko heard approaching footsteps but she couldn't bring herself to care enough to check and see who it was.

She heard Raidou ask, "Can you put her into a light sleep, Healer-san?"

"Hai, its probably the best we can do for her. She'd completely spent, poor dear." A woman's voice said nearby and soon afterwards she felt a cool hand touch her forehead gently and then Moriko was drifting.

She could feel Raidou-sensei gently shift her in his arms and then stand. She was being cradled like a child in her sensei's arms. If she could feel anything at that point she would have been embarrassed at the childish treatment she was getting, but as it was she couldn't seem to bring herself to care.

She felt herself swaying in and out of sleep as Raidou carried her off the battlefield. She felt oddly separate from her body. She couldn't have moved a single finger if she'd wanted to at that point, she was too weak and the healer-nin's jutsu had let her slip that far away and close to sleep.

"Raidou-sensei!" Moriko was pulled away from her partial sleep and into the world of paralyzed awareness by the note of worry in Kotetsu's voice, "Is Moriko okay? Are you okay?"

"Moriko's just asleep right now. Keep an eye on her for me. She shouldn't wake up for a while, but still. I'm fine but they need more help getting the injured and dead out." Raidou said and Moriko felt herself being gently lowered onto a makeshift cot, one of the many the hospital staff had sealed away in scrolls for emergencies like this.

"What happened to her?" Izumo asked quietly and she felt someone wipe her face with a wet cloth to clean off some of the dirt.

Moriko heard Raidou-sensei paused and tried to stay to hear what he'd say, but she was already drifting again. This time she couldn't seem to pull herself back and she finally toppled into an exhausted sleep.

-

**End Note:** Again, reviews are welcome, constructive criticism too. Mindless flames, however, not so much. Please consider, before you flame, that I am, like you, simply a person who loves to write and isn't looking to do anything but complete a goal with this story.

With that note, my current word count at the end of this chapter is: 4,841/50,000

**-Greygryph**


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** PG-13 (for now)

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

Disclaimer: I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU

-

**Chapter 3**

When the sleeping jutsu had done its work and been filtered out of her system by her own chakra, and her body had decided she'd rested enough and replenished her chakra reserves, Moriko slowly became aware of her surroundings.

First she could hear the quiet noises she quickly recognized as those normally found in a hospital or makeshift medic station. She could hear quiet breathing, whispered talking, sheets rustling, the quiet clank of metal trays and their contents, and the click of glass on metal as bottles of medicine—more than likely painkillers—were placed back on the table after a syringe was filled.

Next the scents of…wherever it was she was, filled her sensitive nose and she picked up other people. Lots of other people, many of whom she couldn't recognize immediately, were nearby and many of them stank of pain, blood, burns, and death. It was enough to make her want to gag as the reek of death—even if it was just what was still stuck to the living—filled her enhanced nose. Luckily for Moriko, though, she didn't gag but instead turned her head away from the source.

As she turned she felt a cool hand touch her forehead. She blearily opened her eyes and found most of her visual range blocked by a large hand. "Sensei?" she asked, voice barely louder than a murmur.

"Hai." Raidou-sensei said and pulled his hand back. Moriko blinked slowly as she took in the image of her sensei sitting in an obviously uncomfortable metal chair, his clothes were smudged with dirt and there were several smears of blood on his flack jacket. Moriko's nose wasn't picking up any scent off him, not even his own.

The young Inuzuka frowned at the lack of sensory input and asked, "Did you hide your scent?"

Raidou-sensei smiled and nodded, "I remembered your reaction last time to some of these smells," He waved a hand around the air, indicating the other people Moriko had smelled "and got a hunter-nin to teach the jutsu to me real quick. I think they've worked with Inuzuka before, as soon as I said I had one as a student and she'd be waking up soon he taught it to me."

Moriko let a tentative smile cross her face and she caught sight of her two teammates, fast asleep and leaning against one another. At their feet, Kumori was sprawled, fast asleep and snoring lightly.

Raidou-sensei followed her gaze and grinned at the sleeping boys and ninken. "They tried to stay up until you woke up. I think I may have to try and steal a camera from someone before we wake them."

"There's no need for that, we already got a picture." A passing nurse said with a small smile, there was a glint in her eye that made Moriko smile, "When you were still asleep as well, Raidou-san."

The man in question rubbed his spiky brown hair sheepishly, "Well, I was tired." He protested.

"How long was I asleep?" Moriko asked quietly.

"Only about ten hours, which is a bit surprising given how much chakra you used and the…shock you had." Raidou said, carefully watching Moriko's reaction.

The tawny-haired Inuzuka nodded slowly and fell silent, staring off into the distance and allowing her eyes to glaze over a bit.

"Moriko…"Raidou-sensei began, a bit louder than before. Kumori jerked awake at the sound and was instantly next to Moriko's cot, sniffing at her face and resting his head on the edge of the bed. The sudden movement of their canine foot warmer woke the pair of sleeping genin.

"Hmm?" Kotetsu groaned, "Wassat? Moriko?" He yawned and stretched.

"Moriko's awake?" Izumo asked, being somewhat better at waking up alert than Kotetsu was.

"Yes, Moriko's awake." Raidou said, obviously concerned with the young Kunoichi on the team.

The boys looked at Moriko, who was still gazing off into space. Unbeknownst to her sensei and her teammates, she was reliving her final moments with her father over again in her mind.

Izumo and Kotetsu frowned at Moriko's lack of response to her name, cautiously, Izumo reached out and touched her shoulder.

"Moriko?" Izumo asked and gave her shoulder a light shake.

Moriko gasped and jerked back into reality, startling the two genin crouched next to her cot.

"Kami-sama, Moriko!" Kotetsu said hand at his chest, "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Kotetsu," Raidou-sensei warned, "language."

Kotetsu smiled sheepishly and turned his attention back to Moriko who was getting her own breathing back under control. He noted that her eyes had focused more but had taken on an aging quality since they'd last met. The fact that that had only been about a day ago made the change eerie and disconcerting.

Moriko could see the concern in their faces as they watched her. To distract herself she slowly sat up in her cot and brought her hands up to rub her face. The scent of dirt and her father on them made her freeze mid rub and bring them back down to her lap. She stared at them in horror and swallowed hard.

Moriko faintly heard the rustling of clothing as someone stood, then faint footsteps on hard packed ground and Raidou-sensei's quiet voice ask, "Excuse me, is there a place to shower off nearby?"

Moriko's lips quirked into a semblance of a smile for a second. Raidou-sensei knew her too well. She glanced over at her teammates and gave them a small smile, "Thanks for staying with me in case I woke up." She murmured to them.

Izumo and Kotetsu smiled back.

"No problem." Izumo said and leaned back in the metal chair.

"Yeah, we weren't about to leave without making sure you were okay." Kotetsu said and made a face, "Besides, it gets us out of dealing with the civilians again."

Raidou-sensei rejoined their team reunion followed by a medic-nin and offered Moriko a towel, "There're showers to clean off in," he told the young kunoichi and indicated the medic-nin, "Mira-san can show you where they are. Since most everything the lower chunnin and genin teams can help out with are done you all can go home too. Most of the civilians are already out of the Monument already." Moriko noticed that he left the ending of the thought unsaid even though all three teenagers picked up on it: 'so your parents should already be home.'

The feeling of her teammates and sensei stepping on eggshells around her irritated her quite a bit but she did prefer it over breaking down every time they mentioned the topics they were avoiding.

Raidou-sensei noticed the flash of irritation on Moriko's face and asked, "You going to be okay?"

"Eventually." She said and stood from the cot, gave her teammates grateful smiles and quiet goodbyes before following the medic-nin, Mira-san, from the field hospital and to an adjoining tent that had been turned into a makeshift shower room for the shinobi and kunoichi being treated. She entered the women's half and turned on one of the showers, not even adjusting the temperature. She slipped out of her sandals and untied her forehead protector, shurinken and kunai hostler, and utility pouch before stepping under the lukewarm spray of water fully clothed and simply let it was away all the dirt and blood that had clung to her skin and clothes.

After almost ten minutes of simply standing there she picked up the bar of soap that was in the shower and scrubbed all over until she smelled entirely like the 'scentless' bar of soap. Her skin was distinctly pink and her clothes immaculately clean when she finally cut off the water and pulled back the shower curtain.

Someone had laid a standard-issue chunnin uniform next to her towel on the bench next to her remaining weapons and forehead protector. When she picked them up she found a plastic bag underneath.

Moriko stripped her soaking wet clothes off, wringing them out as best as she could, before stuffing them in the plastic bag. She dried herself off as with the towel and slipped on the uniform shirt and pants, feeling odd in the unfamiliar clothes. They were only slightly too big, which wasn't surprising because of her tiny frame and short stature. She slipped into her sandals and reattached her hostler and utility pouch before retying her forehead protector around her neck and making a mental note to replace the fabric and clean it very well as soon as she could.

It was at that point she noticed that Kumori, who had followed her to the showers and lay on the ground half under the bench, had been recently cleaned and brushed. She guessed it had been one of the things her teammates had done while waiting for her to wake.

As she left the shower room with her bag of clothes she dumped her used towel in the labeled hamper by the door and nodded her thanks to Mira-san when she saw the medic-nin on her way to the field hospital exit.

Once out of the tent, Moriko blinked at the sudden sunlight. She hadn't realized what time it was, but looking at the sun's position now, she guessed it to be early afternoon.

"Well." Moriko said to Kumori orienting herself towards home after a quick glance around, "Time to go home." Realization hit her and she swore quietly.

"What?" Kumori asked as he walked beside Moriko.

"I don't know if anyone's told kaa-san about tou-san." She muttered slumping. She knew her mother wouldn't take the news well, she was almost completely dependant on him and didn't take any sort of separation well. If she already knew she'd be a wreck, but if she didn't and Moriko had to tell her… I wasn't looking forward to going home anyways. It's going to be constantly reminding me of him forever. Kaa-san's not going to help at all either." She told the dog. "It's not going to be a good afternoon."

-

**End Note:** Yeah, I'm trying to get as much as I can up tonight. Chapter lengths vary because I go until I find a good stopping point and I've already got quite a bit written so I'm playing catch up.

Word Count: 6,508/ 50,000

**-Greygryph**


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R (Had to up it for this chapter)

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 4**

Truer words had never spoken. As Moriko neared her house she frowned. Something was wrong. She hurried through the front gate and up the path to the front door and slipped inside, noting the unlocked, open door, as she went.

"Kaa-san?" She called tentatively. There was no response, not even the sound of someone crying. She slipped around the house checking each room with the ease of long practice until she was sure the house was empty. Frowning Moriko let her other senses take over.

She found her mother's freshest scent: not much older than twenty minutes. She followed it around the house and then to the front door. Moriko didn't like the distressed tinge her mother's scent had and clenched her jaw. She made sure to close and lock the front door this time as she left and allowed Kumori to take the lead on the scent as it was much easier for him to follow it at speed than her. Her gut was telling her to find her mother quickly, but she wasn't quite sure why.

The trail led them straight to one of the many smaller training grounds that were within the city's walls. The training grounds were far enough away from the battle grounds that they hadn't been damaged and were completely deserted.

Kumori finally came to a stop at the base of a tree and Moriko stopped a few feet back. She looked up into the branches, still full of fiery leaves, and called out, "Kaa-san?"

A quiet sob was her only answer for a minute before she heard her mother begin to speak, "He's dead." She was muttering, voice tense and strained "I can't think of life without him."

"Kaa-san…" Moriko began, terrified at the tone her mother was taking. Her ears filled with the sound of her own throbbing heart, she barely even noticed when Kumori disappeared. 'She can't be thinking of it, Kami-sama, she can't be…'

"I can't go on without him." Her mother was muttering as she stepped out onto the branch within Moriko's sight.

Moriko's heart stopped. Around her neck was a noose made up of some of the spare rope her father had stored in the closet for missions. The other end, she noted, was tied securely to the branch she stood on. Her mascara had run down her cheek with tears and her auburn hair was a flyaway mess. Kyoko locked eyes with her daughter and Moriko could see an unhinged glint in her red eyes before she said, "I don't exist without him." And stepped off the branch.

To Moriko, the whole world had gone into silent slow motion as she stood paralyzed in fear.

Her mother dropped, eyes still locked with Moriko's as the young chunnin couldn't even form a single coherent thought. With a jerk her mother's descent was stopped suddenly a foot and a half from the ground. Her eyes were still locked with her mothers even as her hearing slowly came back to her and she became aware of someone calling her name in the distance.

Her entire world was filled with the sight of her mother's slowly clouding hazel eyes, still staring into her own.

She could hear the two people and two dogs charging through the trees behind her but it didn't cause any reaction.

"Moriko!" a familiar voice was calling, echoed by another yelling "Moriko-chan!"

Her world had disappeared. All that was left was her mother's dead eyes. 'Dead!' the hysterical thought flashed through her mind, 'Dead! They're both dead! Dead! Dead! DEAD!' she wasn't even aware as she was pulled away from the tree and into a pair of strong arm for the second time within the past 24 hours. Not long after that, her world and her mind went blissfully white.

The next thing her senses were telling her, she was warm and somewhere surrounded by familiar, comforting scents. She opened her eyes slowly and her mind noted that she was in her Aunt Tsume's house, curled up on her side in one of the many guest bedrooms. She was bundled up snuggly in an flack jacket that was several sizes too big that smelled like her sensei and a blanket that smelled of her Aunt Tsume's house. Kumori was curled up against her stomach, underneath the blanket. She felt another warm body curled against her back and another behind her knees, a head was resting on her ankles. Blearily she lifted up her head and found that she had been incorporated in a literal dog pile of snoozing ninken. She recognized all of them as belonging to various members of the clan.

She blinked slowly at the sight, 'How'd she get here? And why was the clan gathered?' she wondered sleepily then memories of the day's events caught up to her and she shivered, sinking deeper into the blanket and her sensei's thick vest and ignoring Kumori's worried whine as he was woken by the movement. Her eyes slid shut and she tried to push the memories back even as they slowly began showing her parent's last moments. 'Stop…Stop, please.' She begged silently, even sounding drained in her own mind. 'Stop. Kami-sama, stop. Please! Please, stop! Stop! STOP! STOPSTOPSTOP!' her thoughts ended once more with eyes: her father's closing slowly and her mother's staring sightlessly at her.

She whimpered quietly and began to shake. Kumori buried himself closer to her and whined again. Slowly the pack of ninken surrounding her began to wake and turn their heads to look at the shaking, whimpering mess Moriko had become.

There was a subtle shift and she was more closely surrounded by the pack of ninken. She heard footsteps pad gently down the hallway away from the guest room but didn't pay them much heed. She was too busy clutching at her head and trying to will away the images of the eyes. Kumori was licking her face worriedly and she felt another canine nose nuzzle its way under her neck.

The mattress shifted as a new weight was added and Moriko felt a gentle hand on her head and heard her aunt's familiar voice shushing her. Instincts ground into her mind after years of living in the pack-like clan had her instantly quieting. The alpha was here. She was safe. Her shaking quieted as Tsume gently ran her hand through Moriko's hair, muttering about nothing in her most soothing tones.

Moriko's mind slowly cleared to a strange blankness that the kunoichi part of it noted as shock. Her hands relaxed and dropped away from her head and she gazed up at her aunt. Tsume looked tired and drawn and her dark eyes were sad as she gazed down at her niece.

Tsume continued to absently fiddle with Moriko's hair and Moriko slowly closed her eyes again, reveling in the gentle touch. She knew she was acting like a child but she couldn't seem to bring herself around to hating the feeling.

Eventually she opened her eyes again and swallowed to wet her dry throat before looking back up at Tsume.

"Why?" She asked quietly. The simple question was the best her slow mind could come up with and it voiced so many thoughts.

Tsume sighed and stopped playing with Moriko's hair. "I don't know." She answered and silence fell once more over them. She glanced over her shoulder at the door to the guest room at some muffled noise and then looked back at Moriko. "You feel up to facing the clan?" she asked quietly.

Moriko shook her head and sank back into the blanket, hiding her face again in her sensei's vest. She felt Tsume's hand push the hair away from her face and a gentle kiss on her temple before she felt the bed shift again and heard the woman pad quietly out of the room and close the door so that any of the canines still curled against her could nose the door open.

Moriko's hands found their way to Kumori's fur and soon she was absently running her hands through the thick charcoal hair and staring blankly ahead of her.

She heaved a sigh and her sensei's familiar scent brought up memories that made her frown.

Twice today she'd done nothing while her two most precious people died right in front of her eyes. And twice her sensei had been the one, or one of the ones to find her, and see her being that weak. The first time she knew she'd been carried away by Raidou-sensei and the second time, she had a sneaking suspicion she'd been so too. She'd broken the promise she'd made when she graduated the academy.

Despite being the member of a well known clan, Moriko had still been subject to bullying at the Ninja Academy because of her tiny frame and the fact that she didn't quite look like the rest of her clan members with her tawny hair. She'd grown up trying to remedy the fact that she was naturally physically weaker than everyone in her class, even her fellow kunoichi when they weren't even trying. She'd sworn to herself that once she graduated nobody would ever see her be weak again.

She'd worked hard and slowly gained muscle and strength until she could match the other kunoichi of her year. She couldn't seem to match her two teammates, and although they never teased her or made any comments on the very obvious difference in strength it still hurt her when they, almost unconsciously, exposed her weakness during training and on missions.

She wasn't angry at them. She knew they didn't mean anything by it, but it still made her feel weak and like she wasn't pulling her own weight on the team.

Then, two years ago, Raidou-sensei had pointed out something to the team when Kotetsu complained that he couldn't get a genjutsu to work properly.

"You can't be good at everything. Play to your strengths." He'd said, and Moriko had taken the words to heart. She'd started to play to her own strengths.

Her body wasn't built for strength, that much was obvious. She was easily the shortest person in her class. Even at 14, when everyone else was starting to shoot up, Moriko was still barely five foot, and while she was still growing, it was painfully apparent she would never be tall or broad shouldered. Moriko quickly realized that she was build more around speed and flexibility and had soon adapted her combat style to incorporate this. Slowly she also began to incorporate subtle genjutsus as well and soon she was easily able to outmaneuver her two teammates.

But ever since the attack she'd been showing nothing but her weakness and she hated it. She hated that she had forgotten about her job to find other injured shinobi when she found one familiar dying face. She hated that her sensei, who she'd been trying to hard to prove to that she was strong, had been the one to find her and carry her off the battle field. She hated that her teammates had seen her so defeated. She hated that, despite having the speed and skills to do so, she'd just stood and watched when her mother killed herself. She hated that, again, her sensei had seen her at her worst. And, if her guess was correct, had carried her all the way to the Inuzuka compound.

"Damn it…" she whispered and fisted her hand in her blanket.

"What's wrong?" Kumori asked quietly.

"I hate being so weak…" she murmured to her partner.

"You aren't weak, pup." Another of the ninja dogs said, his voice deep and gravely to her ears. Moriko lifted her head to look at the speaker, laying across . The massive form of her aunt's current partner, Kuromaru was sprawled behind her knees, head resting across her ankles.

Moriko didn't say anything to the black and white dog, but the disbelief shone in her eyes even as she settled her head down and stared off at a point in the distance.

-

**End Note:** This is the end of my catching up. I feel absolutely horrible putting Moriko through all this, but believe me when I say everything turns out fine. Granted that's a few years down the line…but she doesn't stay all angsty and stuff! Anyone who decides to complain about the angst should consider what just happened.

Again, I want to remind any readers that this hasn't been edited beyond basic spell check. Editing is for December. I just need to get 50,000 words out.

Everyone can look forward to a bit of fun in the next chapter, or, at the very least, a cute moment. There will be more angst coming up, but I think everyone in Konoha's angsting right now given the circumstances.

Update may not come for a few days, but I don't have much planned besides homework this week, so it shouldn't be too long.

**Word Count:** 8,509/ 50,000

**-Greygryph**


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 5**

She didn't move from the bed at all that day. Slowly the pile of ninken sprawled with her on the bed thinned out as the sun began to sink closer to the horizon outside the window. And as night finally fell over Konoha it was only Moriko, Kumori, Kuromaru and the other dogs living at the clan leader's house left on the bed.

When a sharp whistle sounded downstairs all the canines bolted up and all but her own partner and Kuromaru bolted out the door. The two remaining dogs looked at her carefully.

"Go, eat." She told them gently and lifted up the blankets to let Kumori out from where he'd wedged himself.

The half grown dog jumped down from the bed, then turned and looked her straight in the eye.

"You should eat too." He told her, eyes and ears fixed on her face, worry evident in every slight movement.

"I'm not hungry." Moriko muttered.

"You should still eat." The charcoal dog argued

"I won't be able to keep it down." The teen told Kumori and sighed, "Don't worry about me. Go eat. I'm not going anywhere."

Kumori eyed her a moment, "Promise?"

"I promise, I won't go anywhere and I won't do anything except maybe go to sleep." Moriko promised, a small smile flickering across her face at her mothering canine.

Kumori nodded and trotted out of the room after Kuromaru, who had been waiting at the door for the younger pack member.

After the last sounds of the pair of ninken faded away Moriko sighed and wearily closed her eyes, curling up into a tighter ball on the bed and slowly allowing the tears she'd been holding back for hours now fall.

It wasn't long before the emotionally exhausted teen was drifting off to sleep, staring blankly at the glowing alarm clock near her head. As soon as she drifted away from the conscious world, dreams were upon her as if they'd been lurking in the back of her mind waiting.

Memories played one after another, slowly becoming warped as her subconscious mind picked up on hidden fears and emotions.

Moriko was seven, and had just woken from a nightmare to her parents both sitting on the edge of her bed. Her father was gently stroaking her hair and shushing her as she whimpered at the memory of mindless terror and shapeless monsters. "Don't leave." She'd whispered to them, eyes wide and pleeding "I don't want to be alone."

"Oh honey," Her father said and leaned forward, kissing her on the forehead. Moriko closed her eyes as he brushed hair from her face. Moriko looked back up at him and reeled back in shock, he was bruised and dirty, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and his eyes were glazed over.

Moriko jerked back in terror and her eyes darted away from her father's dead eyes and were met with her mother's dead eyes, staring accusingly into her own.

"You already are alone." The dead woman told her daughter, "You're alone and it's your own fault."

Moriko twitched as if struck. "N-no." she protested weakly. "I didn't—"

"You didn't do anything." Her father's voice accused.

"You just stood there." Her mother contined.

Moriko clenched her eyes closed, "No!" she yelled and grabbed her head in her hands, shaking it back and forth, trying to dispel the dream.

"You let us die." Her parents chorused, "It's your fault." Their voices were fading to whispers.

Slowly Moriko opened her eyes and found that she was no longer sitting in her seven-year-old self's room, but instead, was in a void.

There was nothing all around her, and, although she was standing, there was nothing beneath her feet. Moriko whipped around, searching for anything—for anyone.

"No." she whispered, voice trembling. She sank down and hugged her knees, clenching her eyes closed. She was alone, completely alone.

Moriko jerked awake, heart beating faster than a scared rabbit's. She gasped for breath and shook uncontrollably. Her stomach churned dangerously and she could taste bile in the back of her throat. Moriko struggled to even out her breathing even as she fought to keep whatever she had left in her stomach down. She rested her head on her knees and swallowed.

"Shit…"she muttered to herself and let out a shuddering sigh. The room was still empty aside from her and she wearily glanced over at the glowing alarm clock on the nightstand. It had only been about ten minutes.

She was so preoccupied with calming her still rebelling stomach she didn't hear the quiet footsteps coming down the hall. Her first clue that she wasn't alone in the room anymore came when something completely blindsided her and knocked her off the bed.

Moriko flailed as she fell, finding herself tangled in her too-big uniform, her sensei's massive flack jacket, and the blanket she's been wrapped in. She felt small arms wrap themselves around her waist and a familiar joyful giggle that had her whipping her head to look at her attacker.

Her young cousin, technically her second cousin, Mai was hugging her fiercely around her stomach. She had a wide grin on her face as she looked up at the hyperventilating teenaged kunoichi.

"I gots you Moriko-neesan!" Mai announced happily and a giggle drew Moriko's attention to the door. Tsume's daughter, Hana, was standing at the doorway, hands covering up a giggle. She was clad in pajamas and had fuzzy slippers on. When Moriko looked back at the triumphant Mai she noted that she too had pajamas on.

'Sleepover.' Moriko concluded, sounding exhausted even in her own mind. It wasn't uncommon for the two five-year-old cousins to have sleepovers, especially given the chaos the clan was probably experiencing: having the two together to keep them occupied seemed like a good idea.

"Kaa-san said you're sad." Hana said, her matter-of-fact voice sounding odd on a five year old.

"And you're supposed to hug sad people!" Mai giggled, squeezing Moriko tighter around the stomach.

Moriko was at a loss as to what to say to the two five year olds but she finally settled for murmuring "Thank you."

Mai grinned and snuggled more securely beside Moriko, ignoring the fact that she was still half sprawled on the floor, tangled in clothing and her blanket. Moriko sighed a bit but let one of her hands rest on Mai's head gently. "Come on, Mai." She murmured, "The bed's more comfortable than the floor."

"But, you're comfortable too." Mai protested with a pout, but never the less, loosened her grip on Moriko and allowed the young kunoichi to get to her feet and crawl back onto the bed. Mai scrambled up beside Moriko when the still slightly shaky teen fell back against the pillows. Hana followed Mai's example and climbed up on the bed on Moriko's other side and curled herself up against Moriko's side.

As Mai curled herself up against Moriko and pressed her face into her side she suddenly sniffed and looked up at Moriko, eyes wide and curious. "Moriko-neesan? Why do you smell like you were scared?"

Moriko froze a bit at the question as flashes of her dream rose in the back of her mind. With an internal shudder she shoved them back and then said quietly, "I had a bad dream."

Hana twisted and looked up at Moriko now, "It must have been a really bad dream." She said.

Moriko nodded slightly, "It was." She agreed.

"What was it about?" Mai asked.

Again memories flashed to the front of her mind. Dead eyes and accusing stares filled her vision and her thoughts strayed to what her parents had said. Was it her fault they'd died? She had done nothing to stop her mother, even though she was fast enough and had knives to cut the rope before she'd hit the end of them. She hadn't even remembered the medical jutsu's she'd learned over the years when her father had been dying before her. No, she argued fiercly with herself. It wasn't her fault. She hadn't killed them. But she hadn't done anything to stop it either, another part of her mind hissed back accusingly. She'd frozen up like an academy student. She had been too weak to do anything to prevent her father's death and her mother's suicide. She'd frozen up and had to be rescued from her stupor by her sensei twice.

"Moriko?" Hana's voice cut through the memories and Moriko fiercly pushed them back once more in her mind, shoving the accusing voice back even further than the memories.

"Sorry." Moriko muttered then glanced between the two curious stares from her young cousins and continued in a whisper, "I was all alone."

The two young girls were quiet for a moment then Hana said, "Well, whenever I have a bad dream about monsters in my closet, kaa-san always goes and searches the closet for me. To make sure there's no monsters to scare me."

Mai suddenly grinned brilliantly at Moriko, "We'll just stay with you to make sure you're not alone."

Moriko was speechless. She stared at the two determined five-year-olds and finally let a soft smile worm its way onto her face. "Thank you."

When Tsume went to check on Moriko later that night when she was feeding a three-month-old Kiba, she found the chunnin sleeping soundly. Tucked securely into either side of her were Hana and Mai, both of whom had secure grips on Moriko's too big uniform. Kumori had slipped back into the room earlier and was curled up half between Moriko's legs, his head resting on one of her knees as he snored softly. The clan leader sighed quietly in relief and shut the door so that only a crack of light escaped into the room.

-

**End Note:** I feel a bit better now that I've written a bit of cute family interactions in here. You gotta love cute, ignorant five year olds. Mini-Mai and Hana are fun to write, and they are important characters later on so I wanted to introduce them early (Okay, well Mai is an important character in Moriko's story, Hana kinda has more of a minor roll, but she is definitely there).

By the way, Inuzuka Mai belongs to my lovely roommate. Don't steal her. Her future husband will kill you. : ) and yes, there will eventually be pairings in this, but it kinda takes a while. Okay, a long while, but pairings do happen. I just won't spoil them as of yet.

**Word Count:** 10,152/50,000

**-Greygryph**


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 6**

The next morning, Moriko awoke to the sounds of poorly stifled giggles and the sensation of someone's hair tickling over her face. She blearily opened her eyes and found her entire field of vision blocked by the cheerful faces of her young cousins. As soon as she blinked at them they giggled again.

"What's so funny?" she mumbled, knowing it didn't come out as such in her still half-unconscious mind. Truthfully, her slurred question came out sounding more like "maws s munny," which sent the two five year old Inuzuka's once more into giggles.

She heard another familiar voice ask from beyond her cheerfully obstructed field of vision, "My, I think that may be the least articulate I've ever heard you." Moriko blinked slowly at the new voice. Tsume? Why was she so tired?

"Because you slept for most of the past three days." Her aunt's voice answered her.

Moriko winced, she hadn't meant to say that out loud. The young chunnin turned her head and found the glowing alarm clock on the nightstand. It's neon green face informed her that it was very nearly midday. She hadn't slept in that late since she graduated from the academy, she mused. Weekends and days off had quickly vanished once she was assigned to her team 3.

She moistened her lips to say something to the five year olds still looming over her but then grimaced at the taste in her mouth. She reached up and ruffled Hana and Mai's hair, ignoring their cries of protest and pushed herself up between the two girls who had been kneeling on either side of her. She ran hands over her face, rubbing the sleep out of them before she ran them through her hair and wincing as they got caught up in tangles in her shoulder length strands.

Kumori was still sprawled where he'd claimed the night before, curled between her calves with his head resting on her knee. He stretched out his neck as Moriko sat up and sniffed at her face.

Moriko smiled at him and ran her hands through the thick fur on his neck. The lanky, half-grown hybrid leaned into the touch and sighed happily. Moriko found herself smiling slightly and then glanced on either side of her to the two Inuzuka children.

Hana and Mai were both already dressed in clothes suitable for extensive play. Hana's dark hair was pulled back in a short pony tail while Mai's was in twin pig-tail braids. There were strands of hair escaping the hold of their hair bands from where Moriko had loosened it with her head rubbing.

"Can you two do me a favor?" she asked the girls as she spotted her utility pouch sitting on the dresser across the room. "Can you grab my pouch there and bring it over here?"

The two girls had fetched it over to her without so much as a question. Moriko flipped it open and quickly found the travel toothbrush she kept packed away there for emergencies. As she pulled it out, something else caught her eye in the bag and she stared at it in horror.

There was a small hand carved heart with her name carved carefully into the front. Overall, it was small enough to fit easily in the palm of her hand and a small, nearly invisible seam along the side of it hinted at another secret it held. Her father had always had an interest in whittling and in carving and had started a tradition with Moriko when she was young and they had had their first real fight, to apologize with a hand carved figurine or other small homemade wooden gift. Moriko would then reply in kind with a batch of her father's favorite cookies.

Moriko felt her mouth twitch a bit at the memory. She'd never once actually told her father she was sorry for anything, it had always been an unspoken exchange of apologies between the two of them. Both of them believed that words were easily drowned out by actions and had always strived to show people they were sorry more than they ever told them so. The exchange of gifts and, often, smiles, was their form of exchanging apologies.

She pulled the small heart out of her pouch and fingered it absently before applying a little pressure and sliding the two halves apart. Inside her father had carved her favorite haiku and a single phrase: "I love you". The apology gift, which she'd been meant to find the next morning on her way to collect her next mission with her team, now made her bite her lip to hold back tears.

Moriko felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and she leaned against Tsume, still fighting to hold back tears that were already spilling down her face. She tore her eyes away from her father's last gift and glanced over at Tsume who, too, was staring at the little carved gift with a sad expression on her face. She noted absently that the two children had vanished along with her ninken at that the door was closed.

Moriko could hear the whispers that had been haunting her mind the day before begin to make themselves known again. Their taunting voices and accusations were echoing in her mind and Moriko could feel herself start to shake a bit. She finally managed to choke out "Why?"

"Why what?" Tsume asked, glancing at her niece who didn't meet her look. Instead Moriko was staring at the haiku inside the heart, tracing the lines with her thumb.

"Why aren't you blaming me for what happened?" Moriko asked, voice strained.

Tsume was startled, "Why would I blame you?" she asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

"I didn't do anything to save them, either of them. I didn't try and heal tou-san and I just stood there when kaa-san…" she trailed off and shook her head, "Its my fault they're gone, because I didn't do anything to save them."

"because it's not your fault." Tsume said fiercely, grabbing Moriko's chin and turning her head to face her. "They both made their own choices. Hige decided to protect his comrades with his life. He knew what he was doing. He wanted to protect the village with his life, he always had." Tsume paused, "Aniki was always trying to protect others. That was part of the reason he gave up his status as heir, he knew how to protect people, and he was willing to do so, but he wasn't a leader—or at least he thought so. He knew exactly what he was doing when he saved those shinobi. It was his decision and afterwards, he was too injured to be saved. Even Tsunade-sama of the sannin wouldn't have been able to do anything for him. By all rights he should have been dead when you found him." She paused and wiped a spare tear and gave a watery chuckle, "He was too stubborn to leave without saying goodbye to you."

Tsume wiped her eyes again and continued, "You were the most important thing in his life—he told me so all the time. He would not want you to blame yourself for what happened with him. And Kyoko…she made her decision and even if you had stopped her then, she wouldn't have stopped until she succeeded. So don't go blaming yourself because nobody else is." They fell into silence for a while, then Tsume sighed and stood, "I should go and make sure the munchkins aren't causing too much trouble or too much of a mess. I sent them to get Kumori some breakfast. Get yourself cleaned up, you'll feel better.

Moriko did feel better after she had showered and brushed her teeth. She wandered back to the guest room that she'd been staying in to search for her sandals. She needed to get some clean clothes, she was still wearing the oversized uniform although she'd left her sensei's flack jacket in the room when she'd gone to shower. Moriko winced at the thought. To get clothes she'd have to go home and she wasn't sure she was ready to face all the lingering memories it would hold.

Moriko knew there was no way she'd ever give up her parents' house—it was home and she was sure it always would be. She knew that the minute she set foot inside she'd be remembering everything that had ever happened there, and that for a long while her parents' scents would linger—and her nose would be more than good enough to pick them up without even trying. Moriko slipped into her room and found her sandals where someone had dropped them by the dresser. She absentmindedly reattached her kunai and shurinken pouch to her right thigh and her utility pouch to her back pocket.

She wandered down the hall to the large kitchen and casual dining room. There was a kettle sitting on the stovetop, just starting to steam. Tsume was getting a bottle ready for her youngest son, Kiba, who Moriko realized now she hadn't even heard once since she'd been brought here. Granted, she hadn't been up to her normal standard of alertness, but you'd think she would have heard a baby crying at least once.

"There's tea bags up in the cupboard and I have some loose leaf and a strainer too, if you want some of it." Tsume said as she tested the temperature of the milk on her wrist.

Moriko opened the cupboards and pulled out a small tin of her favorite green tea she knew her aunt always had. She fished out the small strainer used for single servings and loaded it with tea leaves, letting the soothing scent wash over her as she did so. She dropped the strainer into a mug and leaned against the counter as she waited for the water to boil.

As she waited she stared out the kitchen window and caught sight of Hana and Mai running around the yard, chasing after an excited Kumori, who had, by the looks of it, stolen one of their toys and was leading them on a merry chase through the Inuzuka compound.

The kettle began to scream for attention as Tsume disappeared out of the kitchen to collect her young son and feed him. Moriko pulled the kettle from the hot burner and the screaming subsided. She popped off the cap and poured the steaming water into her mug. She absently replaced the kettle on one of the unheated burners and collected her mug. She was already thinking about the trip to her house she needed to make.

She knew that Tsume would let her stay there as long as she wanted, but Moriko felt like doing that would be the same as hiding from her problems. It would be easier to face the ghosts that were likely to haunt the two story house now rather than later. The stress that would spawn from waiting to go back, would probably make her eventual return worse. She gnawed on her lip as the thought.

Uncertain questions echoed through her mind as she stared unseeingly at her seeping tea. Would she completely flip out at the first whiff of her parents' scent? Would she freeze up again? Would she be completely unaffected by the scents? That final thought scared her the most. Was she too jaded already from three years as a kunoichi, especially as one who'd killed before? Would she cope too quickly and forget about her parents much faster than normal because of her close relationship with death?

"You know that tea looks like its strong enough to substitute for soldier pills." A voice remarked and caused Moriko to jump up. Her eyes darted from her tea to the man standing in the doorway.

"Raidou-sensei!" she said in surprise and slumped back into her seat. "I think my heart may have stopped for a second there." She muttered and fished out the small ball strainer and crossed the room to dump its contents in the garbage and the tool itself in the sink.

"Well, your highly concentrated tea will do the trick of restarting it, if that's the case." The brown haired man said and took a seat at the kitchen table. "How're you doing?" he asked as Moriko returned to her seat across from him and took a cautious sip from the mug.

Moriko winced at both the strong flavor and at the question. After a moment of debating her answer she said, "I'm probably doing as well as can be expected." She said and took another sip of tea, allowing the over strong flavor to force her still groggy mind into full working order, "I had a nightmare, but I was able to sleep afterwards." She left out the part of her only being able to go to sleep when she knew others were there with her. She slumped a bit in the chair, "But I need to go home today, if only to get some fresh clothes and some essentials." She said.

Raidou nodded slowly, "And you're worried about going back in there and facing the memories it holds." He surmised gently, then a yell of triumph outside interrupted them and Moriko's head snapped to the window, "Ah, it seems Izumo and Kotetsu were able to help your cousins get their toy back from Kumori after all." He commented.

Moriko blinked a bit at the casual statement, her teammates had come to visit her? Outside the window she saw Kotetsu proudly holding up the toy in question. Kumori was leaping to try and snatch the toy back, but Kotetsu deftly tossed it to Izumo who just as easily caught it. Hana and Mai were laughing as a game of keep away evolved. Kumori was kept running in circles until he decided enough was enough and pounced on Izumo, who had just caught the toy. The startled genin yelped as he fell back, a half-grown hybrid on his chest. As he fell he threw the toy back to Kotetsu to keep it out of reach of the dog. Kumori, however, simply stayed on Izumo's chest grinning and panting happily as he gave up on the game and instead treated the bandana-d genin to a thorough face washing, despite his struggles and protests. Kotetsu, being the best friend he was, cackled at his friend's misfortune until, quick as a flash he too was tackled and given the same treatment.

Moriko felt a smile slip onto her face. Kumori had noticed her gaze and barked happily at her, drawing the attention of her teammates as well as her cousins who all waved happily at her, calling out greetings, and in the children's case, inviting her to play. Moriko gave a small wave back and glanced over at her sensei, who had been watching her from the corner of his eye.

"I may not be fine right now, sensei," Moriko said, as she guessed what the gaze was about. "But I'll be alright in the end. I'll cope." She paused, "Are you three headed to go help out with cleanup?"

"We're taking a break for lunch, but afterwards we're headed back that way." He said carefully, watching Moriko's reaction.

The tawny haired chunnin nodded, "I'm going to come with." She said, resolve making her straighten and turned her gaze even.

"Moriko…" Raidou began, his voice hesitant.

"I'm coming with. Sitting around is only giving my memories time to haunt me and letting my imagination warp things and invade my dreams." Moriko said, cutting him off. "I need to do this. I need to do something. I hate sitting around, you know this. I feel useless and weak when I'm lying in bed and everyone else is out there working on cleaning and rebuilding. I'm not the only one who lost someone, but I feel like the only one not doing anything."

Raidou watched her for a moment after she finished then nodded, "We can head by your house on our way so you can get some fresh clothes. It's always easier to face memories when others are with you." He said and Moriko felt a twinge of something like sympathy. It was obvious that those words had come from experience. Moriko heard the dark whisper in her mind ask, 'How many of his precious people have died? How many of yours will?' Moriko stopped the whisper with an internal snarl of 'Nobody else is going to die so long as I can help it.'

Externally Moriko sent her sensei a grateful smile and took another long sip of her tea. The kitchen door had opened and Izumo, Kotetsu, Hana, Mai and Kumori all surged in, all of them were flushed and panting.

"Moriko-neesan! Did you see what Kumori did?" Mai asked in between gasps for breath. Judging from the grin splitting her face, Moriko guessed that Mai was out of breath not from running but from laughing at her teammates.

"Hai." Moriko said, and allowed a wicked grin onto her face, "Did you two forget to wash your faces before you came over? You know as well as I do Kumori's love of washing faces."

Izumo and Kotetsu smiled back at Moriko, taking the slight barb with ease, and Kotetsu casually tossed one back, "Well, if you'd train him better we wouldn't have to worry about it, now would we?"

Moriko rolled her eyes and rubbed Kumori behind the ears when he placed his head in her lap.

"Moriko's coming with us this afternoon." Raidou-sensei told the two genin boys.

Instantly their gazes sharpened a bit and bore into Moriko, making their skepticism of her wellbeing known. Moriko sharpened her own gaze and glared at them. The two boys looked a bit sheepish and backed off at her warning and scolding glare. "We just need to stop by my house first so I can get clean—and properly fitting—clothes." Moriko told them and finished draining her tea, wincing at the concentration of the dregs of her tea.

Izumo grinned and said, "Well, you can't expect there to be many uniforms in stock to fit you."

Kotetsu caught on and said, "What size is that shirt anyways? Extra small? Extra, extra small? It still looks like a tent on you."

Moriko had the sudden urge to reply with a rather crude comment or to make some sort of rude gesture at the two boys, but the sight of her two young cousins in the room, giggling at the sight of the teasing teammates. Moriko settled, instead, for sticking her tongue out at them childishly and getting out of her seat to place her used mug in the sink. She noticed Tsume by the door as she did so with Kiba half asleep on her shoulder.

Tsume had a small smile on her face and said her greetings to Kotetsu and Izumo, nodding to Raidou as she came into the room. She had a bundle of grayish green fabric draped over one of her arms and Moriko recognized it instantly when her Aunt shifted Kiba's weight very slightly and offered it to her. Her zip-up jacket had been freshly washed and was still warm from the dryer.

Moriko thanked her aunt quietly and pulled the warm jacket and made to follow her sensei out the back door when Hana exclaimed, "Wait!" Moriko paused and looked back at her young cousin, who'd dashed from the room, Mai hot on her trail. Moriko followed their progress down the hall with her ears and soon their running footsteps—muffled slightly by the hallway rug—made their way back to the kitchen.

Hana was clutching a stuffed plush toy close to her chest as she ran. Moriko recognized it as her favorite stuffed animal, a worn canine, vaguely resembling Kuromaru. Hana stopped in front of Moriko and offered her the plush toy.

Moriko hesitantly took it, confused as to why Hana would want her to have it.

"I want you to take Kage with you, 'cause you're going home. He can stay with you so you're not alone. He's good at scaring away monsters that keep you awake at night." The girl said with a fierce nod.

Moriko was speechless, finally she smiled at Hana and tucked the small dog plush under her arm, "Thank you Hana. I'll be sure to give Kage back when the monsters go away." She said, somewhat surprised the girl had guessed her plans to head back to her house that night instead of spending another night here. Hana grinned and threw her arms around Moriko in a hug, Mai quickly following her cousin's lead and soon Moriko was trapped by the two five year old girls.

She was unsure of what to do for a second then bent awkwardly and gave them hugs back. "I won't be gone long." She assured the girls.

"Because she'll be back tonight for dinner." Tsume said, her tone made it clear to Moriko that there would be no argument.

Moriko nodded, "Right, so I'll see you later tonight." She said and gave the two girls another smile before straightening and heading out the kitchen door.

Moriko had expected her teammates to say something about the stuffed dog under her arm or the conversation they'd just overheard, but they were silent instead. When they noticed her gaze on them they offered her reassuring smiles and set off after their sensei who was already heading towards Moriko's house situated only a few blocks away.

Moriko could feel her stomach start to knot in nervousness as she drew nearer and nearer to her house. She barely noticed any of her neighbors who watched her with sad eyes as she trailed after her team down the block. They had all heard by now of the many deaths of shinobi who lived nearby or whom they knew personally.

Seeing the orphaned daughter of Inuzuka Hige, whom had always been kind to them when they'd needed help and who'd always been one of Konoha's avid protectors, and Inuzuka Kyoko, whom they'd never have expected to take her own life, walking silently towards her house made them all once again feel the heavy weight of loss settle on them. Moriko's eyes were on the ground and her posture was somewhat slumped, something that they'd never seen before in the always well composed and steady girl.

Moriko finally tore her eyes from the ground when her house came into view.

Two stories tall, it looked much like all the other houses surrounding it. The walls were brick and there was a front porch with a bench spanning from the door to one corner of the house. There was a simple garden surrounding the porch and a massive tree in the center of the front yard, its branches still half full of orange leaves. The whole house was surrounded by a fenced in yard of mostly grass.

Moriko let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding and led the way through the front gate, already beginning to find faint traces of her parents' scents on the gate and then, once they reached the door, on it as well.

She found her keys in her utility pouch and unlocked the front door, distantly remembering when she'd locked it to go out in search of her mother two days prior. She opened the door and felt a wave of scents roll over her. She blinked dazedly at the sudden rush of memories until she reminded herself why she was there. Eyes hard, she straightened and stepped into her house.

Despite her fears earlier, no sudden rush of flashbacks hit her, only a gentle reminder of her parents' past presence in the house.

Moriko heard her teammates and sensei enter the house after her and for a moment Moriko stood in the center of the entranceway that attached to the living room and kitchen. Then she simply turned and headed upstairs towards her room.

Once inside she quietly closed the door and glanced around her room. It was exactly as she'd left it, the bed was unmade, her pajamas were in a pile on the floor, and there were stacks of books and scrolls on every available square inch of surfaces and, in some cases, on the floor.

Moriko crossed the room to her bed and gently set Kage down on her pillow and then moved to her closet and fished out a new set of clothes and swiftly shed her oversized uniform.

As she threw the uniform in her laundry basket she noticed her chunnin vest hanging in the closet. She rarely wore it, but the sight of it reminded her that Raidou-sensei's vest—or other vest as the jounin was wearing one right now—was still in the guest room at Tsume's house.

Slipping on her a set of her normal shinobi clothes gave her a small shred of comfort due to the familiarity of it. As she slipped back into her sandals she glanced once more through her room and spotted her small collection of hand carved gifts from her father. The sight reminded her of the carved heart residing in her utility pouch and she fished it out.

Moriko traced the heart with her fingers and then slid it open, reading the concealed message with a sad smile and a single shed tear before she closed the heart and set it with the other gifts.

Moriko wiped her tear away and slipped back out of her room, quietly descending the stairs and finding that her teammates and sensei hadn't moved far from where they'd been when she went upstairs.

"You ready?" Raidou asked when she reached the bottom landing.

"Yeah." Moriko said quietly. She didn't quite understand why she was being so quiet. Maybe it was because of the emotions she was feeling, a deep sadness at the knowledge that the people who'd lived with her in this house for her whole life wouldn't be coming back. Maybe it was because she didn't want to disturb the memories that filled the two story house. Whatever her reason, her teammates and sensei had picked up on it and hadn't said another word.

Team three filed out of the house and Moriko locked the door behind them. She followed them away from the familiar roads of her neighborhood to the wall closest to the Kyuubi attack, where there had been some damage from the giant fox demon's attack.

When they arrived to the cleanup and reconstruction site, Moriko simply followed her teammates to where they had been working earlier that morning. She caught sight of her other classmates as well as many of the younger genin teams and older shinobi she recognized vaguely. She received several small smiles as she followed her team through the damaged neighborhood and to a small restaurant where the boys instantly began hefting loads of wood and making a beeline for the carpenters who were toiling on the building.

Moriko followed them with buckets of nails that had been sitting near the stacks of wood beams and let her mind become consumed by the simple toil of manual labor.

She was somewhat shocked when the work ended quite suddenly as the sun began to dip low in the horizon. The carpenters, helpers, and shinobi began to wander off towards their homes for the night.

Izumo and Kotetsu bid her goodbye and each gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as they passed, heading towards their own homes on the other side of Konoha from her own and the Inuzuka compound.

As she set off towards the compound to, hopefully, show up in time for dinner like Tsume had told her too, she found herself walking beside her sensei as he walked towards his own apartment around the same area of the city. Neither of them said a word as they walked through the geometric streets. As they neared where their paths would part, Moriko suddenly remembered something.

"Raidou-sensei. I've still got your flack jacket, do you want to come get it now or should I bring it with me tomorrow when we meet up?" Moriko asked looking over at her teacher.

The man smiled and said, "You can just bring it tomorrow. I've obviously got a spare." He said and tugged on the collar of the jacket he was wearing. "Go get some dinner. I'm pretty sure its been a while since you last ate. Had trouble keeping things down?"

Moriko sighed, sometimes she hated how observant her sensei was, or how good he was at reading people, "No." she said, knowing that it would be better to tell the truth straight off. "I didn't even want to try yesterday and I was still a bit iffy this morning."

Raidou nodded and then reached out to his student and reached out, clasping her shoulder gently and saying, "Take care of yourself, okay? And if you don't think you'll be able to sleep at home, don't try to be tough and go to your aunt's house. My home is always open to you as well, Moriko." With one more squeeze, her sensei turned and strode off down the road towards his apartment.

After a moment of standing at the street corner, watching her sensei walk off, she turned at headed towards her aunt's house. Kumori trotted happily at her side and gave her a grin as he heard her stomach rumble. "Don't say anything." She warned the dog, but Kumori simply wagged his tail.

-

**End Note:** Well, I do believe this is two chapters, but I'm a bit too tired to find a separating point so… a double chapter! Ten pages! There will be a gradual time skip coming up and some more familiar faces will be showing up soon. 

**Word Count:** 15,084/50,000

**-Greygryph**


	7. Chapter 7

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 7**

Dinner with her aunt and cousins was a nice end to the day, Moriko thought, and she lingered afterwards to help her aunt clean up the kitchen and coerce the two five year olds to bed and distract a crying Kiba while his mother fetched his bottle. Afterwards she bid her aunt goodnight, collected her ninken, and left the clan leader's house.

She took her time walking back to her house, savoring the early night. She tilted her head up as she walked and stared at the stars that were starting to tentatively peek out of the night sky despite the sporadic street lights illuminating Konoha. The slowly waning moon was already high in the sky and Moriko found herself automatically locating the north star and orient herself around it.

Once she realized what she was subconsciously doing she snorted quietly to herself and let her eyes wander across the sky, picking out all the constellations she'd learned in her academy days at school and with her father.

Her father and taken her on sporadic weekend and week long camping trips when she was still attending the Shinobi Academy. He'd taken the time to teach her all of his tricks for setting up and breaking down camps effectively, how to safely build a fire and cook on it, and, most importantly, how to track. Every time they went out the trip would end with a tracking exercise where Moriko would need to hunt down her forest in the thick woodlands that surrounded Konoha for miles.

And every time she found her father they would find a tree to climb and sit on the branches to watch the stars come out before they set off for home the following morning.

Her eyes paused on the constellation her father had said ancient cultures had named after a great hunter of their legend. He told her the story of the great hunter, Orion, and his loyal hunting dog, Sirius. To the young Moriko, Orion was quickly replaced with her father, who, in her mind, was the greatest hunter ever. The fact that they both went nowhere without their loyal canine only helped to strengthen the connection.

As she stared at the group of stars she couldn't help but make that connection again. Moriko could almost see her father in the shapes the stars made, and as she imagined Inuzuka Hige's form on the night sky she couldn't help but think back to the last time she'd really had any time to be with him.

The day before the attack, the two of them had argued over Moriko's idea for another original jutsu. Moriko wanted to look into possible ways to further enhance the already sharp Inuzuka senses even more, and her father was dead set against her looking into it. She'd asked why and her father had refused to say, so they fought and Moriko had stormed out of the house and ignored her father when she did return later that night.

Regret washed over her and she tore her eyes away from the constellation and looked down at Kumori as he walked calmly by her side. The canine looked back up at her and drew his ears back in concern.

Moriko reached down and gave him a reassuring pat, then shoved her hands into her pockets and finished the walk to her house.

She fumbled with her keys as she dug them out of her pocket and opened the door. She and Kumori slipped into the house before Moriko shut the door and slid the deadbolt into place. She didn't even turn on any of the lights as she easily climbed the stairs and followed Kumori into her bedroom.

She swapped her work clothes for her pajamas and climbed into her bed next to the already curled up charcoal dog. Moriko sighed and buried her face into Kumori's fur, taking comfort in her ninken's closeness. Despite the fact that she'd been asleep for most of two days she found herself drifting off quite easily.

The next morning when she woke to her alarm, she blearily found herself straining to hear the normal sounds of her house in the morning. When she heard none, her mind instantly whirred into overdrive and she realized why it was so quiet. Nobody else was there. With a groan at her own paranoid reactions, Moriko rolled out of bed and crossed the hall to the bathroom.

When Moriko returned to her room, taking great care not to look down the hallway towards her parents' room—which she knew she would have to pack up soon—her hair was damp from her shower and her teeth felt significantly less slimy. She pulled fresh clothes out and was in the process of dressing when something on her desk caught her eye.

Amongst the scrolls and books she owned was one unrolled note-scroll with the beginnings of her musings on creating a jutsu to further enhance Inuzuka senses. As she stared at it another memory was stirred up in her mind.

She had just graduated from the academy and had rushed outside to meet her parents, her new forehead protector already tied around her neck. Her father had grinned widely at his eleven-year old daughter and said, "now you're a shinobi, just like me."

Pre-teen Moriko had grinned and said, "But watch out, tou-san, some day I'll be an even better tracker than you."

Hige had nodded and held out his pink finger, "Swear it? Swear you'll be a better tracker than me someday?" he asked. Moriko had grasped his pinky in her own and shook it.

"I swear I'll be the best tracker to ever live!" she said with a firm nod.

Now as Moriko stared at her notes she nodded to herself. She'd keep the promise she made to her father years ago. She'd become the world's best tracker. Solid goal in mind, Moriko swiftly rolled up the scroll of notes and stuck it in her utility pouch. She'd start working on this jutsu as soon as she could.

Once she was all dressed and her utility pouch was filled, she slipped downstairs and found something to eat in the kitchen. While she was in there, she cleared out the food that had gone bad in the short period she'd been gone. She packed up some snacks for her teammates and herself and headed out through the kitchen door, locking it behind her as she left.

The reconstruction and clean up took several weeks, and once they were done, the Konoha nins welcomed other missions with open arms. Her team completed their normal sort of missions which were generally C class. They began escorting civilians and merchant caravans as well as deliver scrolls and items to outside villages. It was on one such mission that her team discovered that Moriko had an unrivaled ability to cook, even when in the middle of the woods.

They had been on a mission to deliver a scroll to one of the outlying villages in the land of Fire. When they made camp one night, Moriko got ready to lay her normal perimeter warning traps when Raidou-sensei had stopped her, saying that Kotetsu was going to do that today and that she could work on the meal. Kotetsu had been especially irritating that day, teasing their sensei about his latest girlfriend, and Moriko had a feeling that their sensei didn't want to deal with him right then.

She hadn't argued and had quickly sent Kumori out to find a few rabbits for a stew. That night they all pulled their collapsible travel bowls from their packs and taken a big bite of the warm meal. When they did there was a pause and both her teammates turned to her with adoring eyes, her sensei looked impressed and quickly dug into the warm meal.

"Moriko," Izumo began and took another bite, this time obviously savoring the flavor. "Why didn't you say you knew how to cook?" he asked, "We've had to put up with Kotetsu's and my cooking for, what, three years, and the whole time you knew how to cook?"

Moriko shrank a bit on her log, trying to escape the attention. "Ano, you don't cook bad…" she began.

"But you cook way better." Kotetsu said, voice stern and leaving no room for argument. He then turned to their sensei, "Sensei, I volunteer myself for perimeter trap duty from now on if we can have Moriko cook all the time." He said, raising his hand in the air like he was in a class.

Moriko gaped at him, but decided against arguing when Izumo followed suit saying, "Hai! I'll switch off with Kotetsu too, so long as Moriko can cook."

Raidou-sensei nodded his head, "as long as Moriko wants to."

All eyes turned to her once more and she sighed, "Hai, I don't mind."

"The sigh says otherwise," their spiky-haired sensei said carefully

"I just didn't think I was that good of a cook." Moriko said with a shrug and worked on her own stew.

The two boys in her team held up hands to ward her off, "Sacrilege!" they chided and Moriko rolled her eyes.

The whole time they ran missions, whenever she had a spare moment she was working in her scroll on her new jutsu. She'd quickly run into a dead end looking solely on known jutsus but had sudden inspiration when she was working on healing a cut she'd gotten in a free for all spar with her teammates.

She'd quickly raided the library medical jutsu section and had found, in a dusty tome of a journal, a detailed section on intercellular chakra manipulation and another on genetic modifications found in the clans of Konoha. She found an in depth description on the Inuzuka Bloodline on a genetic level and had started there looking at possible ways to enhance the canine DNA that had been incorporated in their bloodline several generations back before the forming of Konoha, when the clan was just a large family of hunters living in the hills of fire country.

She began to meditate and found a way to pinpoint her chakra so she could 'get a feel' for the chakra flow on a cellular level. Slowly but surely, her jutsu began to take shape, and for two years she worked on perfecting the theory behind her new jutsu.

By the end of the two years, her one scroll of notes had evolved into three, completely filled with her miniscule handwriting and small diagrams. At the end of the two years, she finally decided it was time to try it out.

She waited until they had a weekend of leave from missions and made her plans to finally try the jutsu out. She went home as normal that night and headed up to her room.

She'd packed up her parents' things about a week and a half after their death, but it took her another year and a half to finally move into the master bedroom of the house. Her old room had been converted into a second guest room. Now, she sprawled on the massive bed and thought over her plans for the next day.

She was planning to head out to her favorite training grounds, where she knew very few people went so she wouldn't be distracted by anything. She would go into meditation and then perform her jutsu. According to her theory either the jutsu would be a success or it wouldn't work at all and all she would be doing would be running a little extra chakra through the nucleus of her cells.

She fell asleep surprisingly easily that night, not even bothering to make herself dinner as she wasn't really hungry.

When she woke the next morning she took a quick shower and dressed in some comfortable clothes before making herself an easy breakfast, gathering her notes in her book tote and setting out for her training grounds.

Although it was nearing the middle of the morning, the roads were only just starting to get busy. She saw some of her old classmates but didn't stop to talk with any of them. Instead she took the most direct route to her training grounds as could be.

Her route, unfortunately, took her straight through the training grounds where her mother had hung herself. The specific tree she'd done it in was gone, replaced by a charred stump. It had been her aunt's idea to burn down the tree and had taught her a katon jutsu specifically to do so. Despite her chakra alignment not being too compatible with fire jutsus, her being most earth compatible, she had still managed to create a good sized fireball and incinerated the tree. Even though the tree was gone, it hadn't done much to relieve the tickling of wrongness she got whenever she was near the training grounds.

As a result of the wrongness that oozed off of the spot, she always crossed the training grounds at a quick jog, and was past them in as little time as possible.

When she reached her training ground a few minutes later, she shed her bag and jacket by a tree and settled herself in the grass at the base of the same tree. She gave Kumori a reassuring grin as the canine settled himself nearby in a large splotch of sun, eyes still fixed on Moriko despite his relaxed position.

Moriko closed her eyes and began to slowly even out her breathing, slowing it until it was as deep and slow as sleep. Her mind began to empty as she let thoughts flow right in and out of her mind and soon it was blank. There was no conscious decision then, she simply felt what her will wanted to do and did it. She allowed chakra to separate into billions of strands and flow into each of her cells.

Her entire body felt a bit tingly then, but she ignored the feeling and directed the chakra to the cell's nucleus and then into the tightly spiraled strands of DNA. Her chakra felt out the difference between human DNA portions and the canine DNA that was mostly unactivated in her cells. Her chakra flowed into the canine DNA and read what was needed to unlock the information needed and changed itself to match this.

Instantly, her body went from tingly to burning and Moriko's mind froze up with pain. She had no more control over the chakra she'd molded and sent into her cells. It had formed itself into the keys needed to unlock the DNA and had stayed as such. The DNA was activating all at once and her cells were shifting their structure to follow what was happening in the nucleus. Her cells leached off tiny portions of chakra to fuel an emergency reformation of structure, allowing the cells to duplicate and the old, pre-jutsu cells to die off.

This was all happening over the course of minutes as Moriko's body burned and her nerves were all sending the same garbled, frenzied, message of blinding pain. Moriko couldn't have screamed if she'd wanted to. Her vocal chords were in the process of reforming and her throat had constricted painfully. She wasn't even aware of the passage of time anymore. It was just sensory blinding, brain numbing pain and then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped and Moriko's mind went black, unconsciousness claiming her.

As soon as the jutsu had started Kumori had known something was wrong, and then, seconds later, when Moriko had collapsed over to the side and her muscles had started to twitch and convulse he bolted to his feet, raised his head and howled for all he was worth. He couldn't leave Moriko, but he needed to get help there. He howled out a distress call that echoed around the training grounds, the panic he was feeling was evident even in the long call.

He paused once the first call was out, and something caught his eye. Moriko's body was changing. Very gradually it was streatching and shrinking and morphing. Fine hairs were growing on her skin and quickly began a shaggy fur coat mostly the same shade of tawny as her hair. Her face was stretching out and becoming distinctly canine. Kumori sniffed at her, nearly in hysterics at this point, Moriko's scent was changing—it was becoming more and more canine as the time went on.

Kumori's head shot up as he heard an answer call echo from the village. He raised his head and howled again, allowing his voice to be their guide.

Soon crashing could be heard through the forest and Kumori's howl evaporated into hysterical barking and whining as Moriko finally stopped her shiver-like convustions and lay still. Her body was fully canine now, as was her scent and that was the worst part about it.

Scents didn't change, ever. They were constant even as people aged. It didn't matter what soaps they used, or what perfume they wore, their scents were still theirs. The soap and perfume only covered it to human senses. Kumori had known Moriko's scent even before he'd opened his eyes as a pup. She'd helped to take care of him and his brothers and sisters when their mother had died. He knew her scent as well as he knew his own. The sudden change in her scents from a distinctly human Moriko—vaguely like her favorite jasmine tea, forests, and mostly her unique scent reminding him of home and warmth and protection—had changed into a canine Moriko—like pack and comfort of a pack-leader and the warmth of a dog pile after the hunt. It scared him more than anything else.

When he saw his father tearing through the woods at full tilt, with Moriko's aunt and a pair of confused ANBU hot on his trail he couldn't help but feel relief. He nuzzled Moriko's neck worriedly and whined pitifully.

Kuromaru had skidded to a halt on the other side of Moriko, frowned, caught her scent and saw the human clothing still wrapped around the canine and swore aloud in human language. "This is Moriko!" He barked at Tsume and the ANBU who had stopped by his side, eyeing the dog wearing a t-shirt and jogging pants.

Tsume's eyes went wide and she crouched down by her head, setting her hands in the normal genjutsu dispelling technique and barking out, "Kai!" nothing happened.

"It's real." She whispered, shock evident in her voice "It's a real body, this is her. She's…turned herself into a dog." Kumori whined again and buried his nose under Moriko's neck, nudging her and begging her to wake up. Tsume set her hand to Moriko's neck and slipped it under her fur and quickly found her jugular. She waited patiently and then said, "There's a pulse. She's still alive."

"Get her to a hospital?" one of the ANBU asked, his monkey mask hiding any expression he may have had.

"Get her to the vet hospital, the normal hospital can't do anything for canines, and she's as much a dog now as Kuromaru." Tsume said and glanced around the clearing, spotting her book tote and her jacket by the tree and gathering them up, even as the monkey masked ANBU and his mouse masked partner gathered up Moriko and sped off towards the village, Kumori bolted after the two, somehow managing to keep up with their breakneck speed with Kuromaru and Tsume close on his heels.

The two dogs and the Inuzuka clan leader took the most direct route to the hospital, following the ANBU across rooftops with long leaps and bounds.

When they arrived Tsume burst through the back door and found the lead vet—a second cousin of her's named Sano who was already barking out commands to the technicians and nurses to get an IV drip in Moriko and to take a blood sample and get it to the lab immediately.

Spotting Tsume Sano stepped away from the unresponsive kunoichi-turned-canine and asked, "How the hell did she manage to do it?"

Tsume shook her head, "I've no idea. But for now, keep it quiet. Get your employees to swear security. This'll probably end up being a S-ranked clan secret, or a forbidden jutsu depending on if she pulls through or not. How's it looking right now?"

Sano shrugged his broad shoulders and ran a hand through his dark hair worriedly, "From what I can tell, she's comatose—or in a very deep sleep at the very least. I'll know more once I get lab tests, but my chakra diagnostics are telling me her nerves are overloaded and a bit fried—as are most of her cells for that matter. Whatever she did put an enormous amount of stress on her body to a cellular level." He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, "Keep me posted on what you figure out." He said and excused himself out the back door to smoke.

While the two Inuzuka's had been speaking, the nurses had settled Moriko on a padded stretcher on the floor and hung an IV from a hook on the side of one of the long sets of stainless steel cages. Kumori had wedged himself into the corner next to Moriko and out of the doctors' way. A small patch of Moriko's fur was shaved off her leg and the IV needle was easily slid into place and held in place with a gauze bandage. A blood sample was taken from another shaved patch further up her foreleg and then bandaged tightly to quickly stop the bleeding.

Tsume looked sadly at Kumori who's eyes were locked on his partner's too still form as the vets attached monitoring devices to keep an eye on her pulse and blood oxygen levels. She crossed the room as the doctors stepped away and gave them nods of thanks, then crouched next to her niece and took a good look at her now that her clothes had been removed.

Moriko was a small hybrid, much like Kuromaru and most of the other canine partners of the Inuzuka clan. She looked mostly like a long legged Siberian Husky with a longer muzzle. Her fur was tawny along the top of her and white on her underside. Seeing her like this made Tsume realize just how small Moriko was. She'd always been a tiny girl, barely scraping up 5' 2" and always looked much too slight to be a kunoichi. But Moriko used her small size to her advantage, making her opponents underestimate her and then completely outmaneuvering them using genjutsu and taijutsu.

Tsume sighed and ran a hand through Moriko's fur, noting that she could feel her ribs a little too easily through the fur. "I'll need to make sure you eat more, Moriko-chan." Kumori whined and crawled forward a bit until he was able to rest his head on Moriko's shoulder, trying to offer his unconscious partner a bit of comfort.

Tsume sighed and rubbed Kumori's head and stood, "Come on, I need you to help me figure out what she did so we can find out how to help her." She told the young dog, who stood and looked once more at Moriko, then followed Tsume from the hospital through the back door. On their way out Tsume passed Sano, who was finishing up his cigarette, Kuromaru sitting upwind of him and keeping him company.

"I'm off to figure out what she did." Tsume told the vet, "I'll keep you posted. Don't worry about expenses, just keep her alive so I can yell at her." Sano snorted a bit, a wry smile on his face.

"I'll do my best." He said and dropped his bud, scraping it out with his shoe before heading back inside.

Tsume and the two canines headed next to Moriko's house, where Tsume used the spare key she had to open the front door. She headed upstairs to the small office and peeked inside. There was a large stack of medical journals on the desk and scraps of scratch paper filled with notes Tsume couldn't make heads of tails of. She glanced down the stack of journal titles and a feeling of dread washed over her.

She turned to the two canines who had followed her up and asked Kumori, "Where was she keeping the notes she was taking in here."

"In the scrolls in the bag that was with her. She said she was trying to improve her tracking potential." The dog said and watched as Tsume slung the bag forward and fished out the three scrolls inside. There was a small number in the top corner of all three, ordering them. She picked out the first, sat down in the office chair and began to read.

By the end of the first scroll Tsume had bolted out of her chair, heading straight to the Hokage's office, two dark canine shadows hot on her trail.

-

**End Note:** Well, I've finally started in on Moriko's jutsu. I'm trying to make the explanation as probable and physically possible as I can, so hopefully what I've put here is a good start. There will be a bit more explanation coming up, but first Moriko needs to wake up and find herself canine-ified. Bwahaha!

**Word Count:** 19,258/50,000

(and I've still got more, no stopping point yet, but there's more. )

**-Greygryph**


	8. Chapter 8

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 8**

She stalked up to the Hokage's office and didn't even stop to have the secretary announce her. She burst through the door and Sandaime looked up from his perpetual pile of paperwork, a bit startled at the sudden interruption.

"Tsume-sama," the aging Hokage began, a confused frown on his face, "What can I help you with?"

"I thought you said you had all of his notes and journals sealed in a scroll within the kinjutsu scroll you keep." Tsume said, eyes hard.

Sarutobi frowned at the abruptness and at the meantioning of his ex-student. "I did, it's still sealed there too, nobody has stolen it."

"Then please, explain to me how my niece just managed to create an experimental jutsu involving the intercellular manipulation and mutation of foreign DNA." Tsume said angrily.

Sarutobi looked shocked. "…what?" he asked, not sure he'd heard right.

"My niece, Moriko, created a jutsu that involved manipulating her DNA on a cellular level with chakra. She's comatose right now and managed to turn herself, physically, into a dog." Tsume continued.

The Hokage looked shocked, then frowned, "all of his records, journals, and notes are still sealed with the kinjutsu scroll…" Sarutobi began then his eyes widened with realization and he cursed softly, "But the original records he used to the create the theory behind his experiments weren't. Kami-sama, they've been in public access all these years."

"They're all at my nieces house now." Tsume said, frown still firmly in place. She pulled out the first scroll of notes and handed it over to the Hokage, "she kept her own notes on her jutsu. There are two more scrolls to go through too. If you could pass it along to Inuzuka Sano when you finish it'd be a great help, he's trying to get Moriko conscious again at the vet hospital."

The old Hokage accepted the scroll and set it on his desk, he flashed through some hand signs and in a poof of smoke a duplicate of the scroll appeared next to the first. "No need for that," he said and handed the original back. "Do you have the other two with you?" Tsume handed them over wordlessly and two puffs of smoke later she was leaving the Hokage with new reading material on her way back to the hospital.

--

She was drifting. It was so peaceful she didn't think she wanted to feeling to stop. All she remembered from before was excruciating pain, and she didn't want to go back to it. She wasn't alone anymore either, there was a warm presence that reminded her of something…her vague and foggy memory sent her flashes of charcoal fur but she couldn't hold on to them long enough to make sense of them. The second consciousness was curled up near her, radiating warmth and a sense of purpose. She reveled in the feeling and she allowed herself to drift once more, feeling the other consciousness drift with her.

She wanted to keep on drifting But something was pulling her back. She could feel it tugging on her consciousness. Curious, she allowed herself to be pulled back a bit, feeling the warm presence of her unknown shadow follow, and she heard someone calling a name.

"Moriko! Inuzuka Moriko! Can you hear me?"

Moriko? Was that her name? Yes, Inuzuka Moriko was her name. She remembered. She was an orphan, her parents had died two years ago. Her aunt was the clan leader and the closest thing she had to a mother figure. She had cousins who she'd baby sit on occasion. And she was a kunoichi on a team, Team three—although it had recently been renamed Team Raidou after her sensei. She had two teammates who had just this past year been promoted to chunnin, a rank she'd held for almost three years.

She found herself not recognizing the voice calling her name though and decided to try to answer them, "Who are you?" she asked, voice sounding about as tired as she felt as she was pulled forward in her mind little by little. A bark echoed the question from near her.

"Ah! There you are!" the unfamiliar voice answered, "I'm Yamanaka Inoichi, I've been trying to get you out of the coma you've put yourself in."

Moriko paused, a coma? "How did I put myself into a coma?" she asked the voice, 'Yamanaka-san' she reminded herslf.

"Your Aunt wouldn't tell me much, something about clan secrets, which I understand, but she said you created a jutsu and managed to turn yourself into a dog and slipped into a coma." He said.

"I turned myself into a dog?" She asked surprised then her mind slowly began to be more forthcoming with details before the pain.

"Yes. You weren't trying to? You don't remember?" his voice was concerned now.

"No," Moriko replied, "I just wanted to sharpen my senses more. All I remember when I started the jutsu was pain. Nothing more."

Yamanaka-san was silent for a moment, "You need to wake up now, Moriko-san." He said, "just follow me and I'll lead you out."

Moriko didn't say anything, she simply followed the voice forward and then found herself in the dark once more, although this time it wasn't a full sensory blackout this time.

She could hear the overloud noises of rustling and along with the muffled, but still distingusable, sounds of animals barking, yowling, sqwacking, and just making an all around racket. Moriko winced a bit at the volume and then her nose sent its input in her next breath. Scents of anesthetics, humans, and various pets bombarded her and she whined a bit as her brain was sent into sensory overload.

Something nudged at her neck and Moriko tried to open her eyes only to find them weighed down with lead. She heard a voice say, "Here she comes."

Moriko finally forced her eyes to open and instantly regretted it. She had been expecting the black and white vision of the world, but what she hadn't expected was the blinding glow of blue that surrounded the figures she saw. Her eyes snapped back shut and she whined again in pain.

Another whine echoed it and the meaning behind it was perfectly clear, "Are you okay?"

Moriko felt a hand on her head and she squinted her eyes open again, trying to ignore the blazing blue surrounding the otherwise black and white figures in her line of sight. She blinked rapidly to try and clear her vision but was unsuccessful.

"Moriko what's wrong." A voice asked, Moriko recognized it instantly and fixed it with the feeling she got from the person crouched closest to her, with the hand on her head. She relaxed as her aunt gently pet her head, soothing her.

"Hurts." Moriko grit out, unsure of whether she spoke in human language or in canine language.

"What hurts?" Tsume asked, concern evident in her voice.

"My head. Its too loud and I can smell too much…and you're all too bright." Moriko said, trying to ignore the migraine already thrumming through her mind.

"Too bright? How can we be too bright? Is it the lights?" Another person asked, Moriko recognized it as on of the clan members, Sano.

'Ah,' Moriko realized as soon as she heard Sano, 'I'm at the vet hospital. That explains the smells and sounds.' She felt agreement in the back of her mind, beyond the pain of the headache. She remembered with a start the second consciousness she had been aware of when she'd been drifting. 'It wasn't a figment of my imagination or anything like that then was it?' she asked herself.

From the back of her mind no words drifted, but instead ideas and simple knowledge of the other consciousness' response flowed forward. 'No.' it told her, 'I'm real. I'm me. And I'm you, just as you're you and you're me.' Moriko blinked slowly and then her attention was drawn by Tsume's concerned voice, "Moriko-chan?"

Moriko focused on her aunt's face, letting her know she was listening.

"Are the lights too bright?" She asked, repeating Sano's question.

Moriko let her head shake slightly, "No. All of you are. You're glowing…or something like that." Her eyes darted to the floor and she said, "And it has an afterimage on the world." She said slowly, trying to work out what the glow was as she explained it. Tsume paused and then the glow around her flared.

Moriko yelped and clenched her eyes closed.

"Gomen, Moriko-chan." Tsume said and Moriko could feel the glow die down. It was the strangest thing she'd ever felt. The closest thing she could compare it to was stepping into the shade on a hot day.

She let out a sigh of relief and cautiously opened her eyes a crack. The bright glow was back down to the more bearable bright sunlight intensity.

Tsume was frowning at her, but her eyes held a calculating light in them. "Moriko, did it get brighter just a second ago?"

"It was like looking at the sun." Moriko said, teeth grit through the pain of her still throbbing migraine. "It wasn't helping the migraine I have either."

Sano frowned at her admission. "Migraine?" He asked

"Yes." Moriko grit her teeth, "This would most definitely count as a migraine." Sano wrote something down on a chart he had in his hands. Moriko blinked. "Any idea why

My brain feels like its trying to come out my eyes?"

Tsume sighed and stood, "I think maybe you're seeing chakra signatures."

"Chakra?" Moriko echoed then gave the idea some consideration. "that makes sense…it feels like scents." Moriko knew she was just confusing them more and more, so she gave up. It was like trying to describe colors to someone who'd been born blind. Moriko closed her eyes and fought a wave of nausea from the migraine, when it had passed she said, "anything we can do about the migraine doctor?"

Sano paused a moment then shook his head sadly. "Not much. More than likely its from the sensory increase your mind is adjusting to. Your body is made to process all this information, but your mind is still human from the looks of it, so its not used to all the extra information."

Moriko didn't say anything, instead she was seemingly staring off into space. She'd heard the second consciousness disagree with the vet's statement on her mind being human. 'Not quite human, but mostly human. Partially me and mostly you.' It was sending. Moriko subconsciously reached out for the other conciousness and brushed against fur. When she blinked herself out of her daze she looked back at Sano, who was watching her curiously.

"Not quite human." She said quietly, "There's been this other…not voice…but more mind with me since before I was aware—before Yamanaka-san called me out of my mind. It doesn't speak, but it sends ideas and its like…we're each other and yet we're not." Sano and Tsume both frowned and then Sano asked.

"Like another you?"

"Somewhat. It's like me but not…and I'm not talking split personalities…although it could be that…I get the feeling that its me…except the canine me." Moriko said, brow furrowing in thought.

"An Inu-Moriko?" Tsume asked.

Sano looked interested he turned to Tsume, "It could be from the stress of the transformation on her body, although it could also have come from the basic instincts of the clan." Tsume nodded and Moriko agreed, although she didn't exactly want to try moving her head again.

Inuzukas were more than a clan with heightened senses and canine partners. They had canine blood in their history somewhere, which made them more beastlike naturally. Their social behavior and mannerisms were often seen as 'ruder' or more 'animalistic' but it was simply how they were. The whole world was a pack made up of very hard to understand social hierarchy, and that was often made up of smaller packs.

The Inuzuka clan, for example, was lead by Tsume, their clan leader and alpha of their family pack. Outside that the whole village was its own pack, with the protectors and the leaders all instantly recognized and, more often than not, treated as such with subtly submissive behavior.

Moriko had always been good at picking up the tiny little movements and behaviors of human body language—both amongst the clan and amongst the citizens of the village. Her father had always told her that she 'just knew' things about why people act how they do and when something was wrong because of the subconscious naturalistic instincts, enhanced by canine genes, and honed by generations of wilderness survival and later in work as shinobi.

It did make sense that the stress and pain caused by her…jutsu…going horribly wrong would be enough to cause her mind to create another part of itself to cope, and by using the instincts already present…Moriko paused. Something didn't quite add up with that theory though. If it was just the pain and stress, why did it create a canine persona? It could have, and should have created a human persona to cope because when she first became aware of her own existence she didn't know she'd become a dog, and she could recall the same feeling of warm fur she'd felt just a bit ago when she was drifting.

Whatever it was that was curled in the back of Moriko's mind, she was sure it was more than a pain and stress induced personality split.

Moriko finally allowed her concentration to drift back to the real world and she found Tsume staring at her, a frown on her face. Moriko felt a wave of nervousness roll over her and she had a horribly bad feeling about what was about to come out of her aunt's mouth.

"We need to talk." Tsume said, her voice was hard.

Moriko felt herself wince, nothing good had ever come after that simple sentence.

-

**End Note:** Ok, exams and projects are done for the week and I've got a week off! HUZZAH! Time to catch up on NaNo writing (I'm like 5k behind). I'll probably be posting a few chapters this week, just because I can and I have a lot of ideas I need to get written out on paper…well typed anyways. Enjoy!

**Word Count:** 21,581/50,000

**-Greygyrph**


	9. Chapter 9

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 9**

"Is there any way we could postpone the talk until after my migraine goes away?" Moriko asked, eyes pleading. Tsume just stared at her, expression completely neutral. "It was worth a try." She muttered and shifted a bit from where she was still lying on a mat on the floor of the examination room.

Tsume glanced at Sano who nodded and slipped out of the room. She could hear voices speaking outside the door, but the cacophony of noise in the back room and the closed door between her and the speakers made what she could hear a garbled, muffled mess. The door opened and Moriko's stomach dropped out. 'Oh, shit.' She thought as the Hokage stepped into the room, a frown on his face, his eyes were hard as he glanced at Moriko.

After a moment, Moriko saw and felt the aging Hokage's chakra begin to gather. Moriko clenched her eyes shut and grit her teeth. When the wave was released Moriko felt a tingling wave wash over her and when she opened her eyes the walls, ceiling and floor were covered in a faint blue glow.

"That's a privacy jutsu," Sarutobi began and fixed Moriko with a hard stare, disappointment shining through his wise eyes. "Nobody can hear what we're discussing inside these walls."

Moriko felt her ears droop on her head, and she averted her eyes in shame.

"We read your scrolls of notes." Tsume began, her voice hard, "And I for one am very disappointed in you. I know your father told you to drop this idea for a jutsu, because it wasn't safe. I know that was what you fought about before he died, and yet you still went through with it. Why?"

Moriko was silent for a minute and just as Tsume was about to repeat herself she heard Moriko mutter, "Because I promised him I'd become the best, and he never told me why he didn't want me to create the jutsu."

Moriko saw Tsume frown in the corner of her eye but her aunt didn't say anything. Instead the Sandaime Hokage spoke up.

"Why didn't you talk your jutsu over with anyone else before you tried it? Run it by your sensei or your teammates?" He asked.

Moriko didn't meet his eyes, "I wanted to do it on my own." She said, knowing now how stupid it had been to attempt a jutsu like this without running it by someone, especially without running it by a medic nin.

Tsume nearly snarled at Moriko, and Moriko felt the other consciousness in her mind pull at the controls to her body. Moriko's ears dropped, her neck strtched out and her tail tucked itself between her legs. Tsume ignored Moriko's submissive stance and bit out, "You let your pride get in the way of your common sense?"

Moriko was wrestling control of her body back from the newly dubbed Inu-Moriko consciousness, but when she did have full control she didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. Moriko had never been one to make excuses to try and get out of trouble and she wasn't about to start now.

"Moriko, I thought you had more sense than this?" Tsume said, and Moriko recognized the tone as the wind up to the maternal lecture. "You weren't just messing around with molding elemental chakra, you were mucking with genetics and techniques that were forbidden four years ago."

Moriko's head shot up at that, "Forbidden?" she echoed.

Sarutobi nodded slowly, "It was forbidden because of what my student Orochimaru did with those techniques."

Moriko didn't move. She couldn't move. She had been using the same techniques of the village's most notorious traitor? The one who'd experimented on children around her age and killed most of them? She finally managed to stutter out, "I—I didn't know! I found the journals and scrolls in the library!"

The Hokage nodded again, "And that is probably my fault." He admitted, "I had the sense to seal up my ex-student's notes and journals, but I never found his sources."

"That, however, doesn't excuse your lack of judgment." Tsume said and Moriko's head sank again, however as it did, she felt a wave of irritation flare up, not at her aunt but at herself. 'I seriously screwed up this time.' She thought and nearly snarled when Inu-Moriko made her agreement known. She wasn't listening as Tsume continued her rant on her irresponsible and dangerous behavior until her aunt noticed her lack of attention and snapped at her, "Moriko! Are you listening to me?"

Moriko ignored the warning flash in her aunts eyes and answered, "No, I am not." Her aunt's nostril's flared but before she could say anything an irritated Moriko continued, "I'm not listening because I'm too busy yelling at myself for being such an idiot to think I'd be able to do a jutsu like I planned. The fact that I've now got a second persona in my mind makes it quite easy to do so."

"Now is not the time for smart ass comments, Inuzuka Moriko!" Tsume barked and Moriko glared at her aunt, the stress of the events since her awakening sapping away any of the normal filters she had between her brain and her body.

'Fuck it!' she snarled internally, "Tsume-sama," the sarcasm the honorific dripped with was not lost on her aunt. "I've just woken up from drifting off in coma-land where I didn't even know who I was. I've found out that I've turned myself into a dog because of my stupid plan for a jutsu and Murphy's Law. I can hear too much, smell too much, see chakra auras on people and the residue it leaves behind. I've got a canine version of myself sitting in the back of my mind and the worst migraine I've ever felt. I'm sorry, but I can barely think straight I do not want you to scold me for being an idiot." Her aunt looked ready to explode, "If it makes you feel any better, Inu-Moriko is calling me an idiot in more ways that I'd care to list." Her aunt didn't say anything but instead snarled.

Moriko turned her attention from her clan-leader to the Hokage who'd been watching the two inuzuka's with calculating eyes. "Hokage-sama, I'm sorry if I'm being disrespectful, but I feel as though my brain is going to ooze out my ears and eyes at any moment. Is there anything else you wanted to discuss with me that can't be postponed until I can move my eyes without wanting to vomit?"

Moriko could have sworn she saw a flash of amusement pass through the old Hokage's eyes, the irritated and in pain Moriko grumbled to herself 'I'm glad you're finding this funny, Hokage-sama.'

"Hai, one thing." Sarutobi said, "What do you think the possibilities are of you performing your jutsu again and becoming human once more?"

Moriko paused at that, "Considering the fact that I'd rather go through an interrogation session than feel that again, I'm a bit nervous to try." She focused and molded a bit of chakra. The familiar warmth that filled her body was comforting, as was the fact that she could still use chakra as easily as before, 'Will I be able to use jutsus as a dog? I can't do handsigns, but I can envision them…and some of my genjutsus are starting to require fewer and fewer handsigns.' She finally blinked and focused again on the Hokage, "I can still mold chakra the same as I could as a human, so probably." She winced, as her head gave a nasty throb in protest to the thoughts and chakra molding. "I won't be able to now, but whenever I get over this migraine I can give it a shot." As soon as she said that she felt Inu-Moriko shift uneasily and she realized what she had just said, 'Sweet Kami-sama. I just volunteered to fry my nerves and go through that…again.'

The Hokage nodded and turned to Tsume, "Tsume-san, can I speak with you a moment outside." The still fuming Inuzuka clan head nodded stiffly and walked stiffly from the room. As soon as the woman opened the door, the bright glow of the room died down to a faded blue tint as the security jutsu dropped. Before the Hokage left he glanced back at Moriko, "I'll ask about getting you a painkiller for your head." He said and left, gently closing the door after him.

Moriko laid her head down and closed her eyes as she did so, she heard another sigh next to her. One of Moriko's eyes opened and landed on Kumori, who was curled up next to her and had been since she'd woken up. "I'm sorry for all this, Kumori." She said, recognizing the worry on the young hybrid's face.

The charcoal dog shook his head, "I know you didn't mean to…I was just so scared." He told the kunoichi-turned-dog, who cocked her head in confusion, "Your scent changed." Was all he said, and Moriko understood.

She let her ears droop again and laid her head back down, "I'm sorry." She repeated and closed her eyes, willing sleep to come and take away the pain. The door opened and she felt Sano come in and crouch next to her.

"Hokage-sama said we should give you something for the pain. You'll probably sleep for a while on this." His voice warned.

"Sleep is fine so long as I can't feel my brain." She muttered and then felt something cool slip into her arm—'foreleg' she corrected silently—and the pain dropped away, along with her consciousness, as she felt the coolness spread.

Moriko slept almost three days without stirring once. When she finally woke up again she found that she was no longer in the examination room, but was back in the kennel, still on one of the easy transport mats. She blinked slowly as the world swam into focus and almost instantly the bombardment of information from her nose ears eyes and eyes made he wish she'd never woken up.

She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the noises reaching her ears, attempting to ward off the headache she could feel coming already.

'Fuck,' she thought bitterly, feeling Inu-Moriko's agreement float down their connection. She ignored her canine-self and began to focus on her breathing instead.

The last time she'd experienced something similar to this had been about a year earlier when she'd gone through a period oh so lovingly dubbed "Inuzuka Puberty" by her clansmen when her senses naturally sharpened as they became adults. Most of the time that meant a week straight of transition where the slightest noise, scent, and change in lighting could trigger massive headaches caused by sensory overload. She'd been hypersensitive to nearly everything that week and had skipped out on four team meetings because of it. When her worried teammates and sensei showed up at her house and she let them in with her eyes closed, nose covered with her sleeve and earmuffs on they'd given her strange looks.

"This isn't fair." She growled aloud, "I just did this a year ago."

"Did what?" Inuzuka Sano's voice asked from outside her kennel. Her ears told her that he had opened the unlocked gate and had joined her in the enclosure.

"The whole sensory overload headaches and migraines thing." She said as her older relative crouched down next to her.

Sano nodded his head in understanding and sent Moriko a wry grin, "Tsume gave me a message to pass along when you woke up." Moriko's ears drooped with dread, "She said you should look forward to combat training with her and Kuromaru regardless of whether or not you can change back."

Moriko let out a quiet whimper and Sano gave her a gentle pat on the head.

"Sorry about that, Moriko-chan. But, on the bright side, it'll be a while before you're cleared from here or from here, and if you do change back, you'll be shoved into the hospital for quite a while if your last transformation is anything to go by." The veterinarian told her.

Moriko snorted, "Thank you for relieving my dread for training with my aunt by replacing it with the dread of changing back and probably frying my nerves even more and probably knocking myself out."

Sano didn't say anything, but instead ruffled her ears and stood, "Oh and you have a visitor waiting to see you." He said and slipped out of the kennel.

"Hey!" she called after him, "Who?"

There was no response from Sano but a door opened and the sound of footsteps charging down the kennel hallway.

Moriko's question was answered when a voice called, "Moriko-neesan!" and something crashed into her, knocking the breath right out of her.

Moriko's eyes squinted open and saw the top of a very familiar head buried into her shoulder. "Mai-chan?" she asked, voice strained as she fought to get air back in her lungs.

Mai only hugged Moriko's neck tighter and the canine gagged a bit.

"Mai-chan! I can't breathe!" she gasped out and the small arms around her neck loosened.

Moriko's new chakra senses quickly memorized Mai's chakra signature and fixed it to her memory.

Moriko shifted her weight and rolled onto her stomach, rolling Mai off her side. She watched Mai carefully as the girl clung to her. In the back of her mind, Moriko felt her inu-self stir and a wave of protectiveness seep up in her mind.

Moriko sent a silent query back to the canine persona. Inu-Moriko quickly sent back, 'Pups are to be protected. She's here alone, and she's too young to out alone.'

Moriko's eyes hardened as her inu-self pointed out. "Mai-chan? Who brought you here?" she asked, voice not giving away any of her motives behind the question.

Mai pulled her face from Moriko's fur and rested her chin on her shoulder. "Nobody brought me, I walked here after Academy." She said, "I wanted to see you, I missed you, and Tsume-sama was grumbling about you being hurt, and you go and visit people when they're hurt, so I came."

Moriko didn't say anything but craned her head around and gave Mai a small canine smile. "It's a good thing I woke up then, ne?" she commented, ignoring the slight throbbing headache that was forming.

Mai gave Moriko a wide grin and nodded her head. Then she frowned and asked, "How'd you turn into a dog, Moriko-neesan?"

Moriko gave a wry smile, "I was stupid and a jutsu I made went wrong." When Mai's eyes went wide and she opened her mouth, Moriko cut her off, "And no I will not teach you."

Mai pouted a bit but then buried her face back in Moriko's fur and asked, "When will you be better?"

Moriko sighed a bit, "I don't know."

Mai didn't say anything for a moment, but curled herself up against Moriko. Without a conscious thought, Moriko rolled herself onto her side and around the young girl.

"Are you going to be able to change human again?" Mai's voice was quiet and sleepy and Moriko tucked her tail around the girl.

"I hope so." Moriko told her softly and felt Mai relax against her and her hold loosen as she drifted off to sleep. Moriko watched Mai as she slept and felt her thoughts wander to why her cousin would be so desperate to see her that she'd come to the vet hospital before Moriko was even awake.

Mai always seemed to appear near Moriko's team as soon as they got back from missions or ended training. At first Moriko had shrugged it off, the visits weren't too often and she didn't mind her young cousin's company. Then the visits became more frequent and Moriko had been tempted to ask why she'd been hanging around her so much, but hadn't had the heart to do so when Mai had looked at her gratefully when she'd invited her to stay at her house for dinner.

Moriko had simply started to accept Mai's frequent visits and had taken to keeping a close eye on the young girl when she could. Knowing that the seven-year old academy student had made the trip from the academy across town to the veterinary hospital alone made her worried and a bit angry.

Moriko settled her head back down on her paws and let her mind drift and her body relax in the comforting presence of her young cousin.

-

**End Note:** Huzzah! Another chapter done! I should be updating later tonight or tomorrow. Not much else to add here.

**Word Count:** 24,337/50,000

**-Greygryph**


	10. Chapter 10

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 10**

It took another four days before Moriko was adjusted to her newly heightened and all around new senses enough to remain headache free after regaining consciousness. Sano had started getting her to move around and get used to her new body two days earlier and, although she was still stiff and achy, she was rapidly adjusting to the fluid movement of her canine body.

When she hesitantly mentioned that she could focus her chakra precisely enough that she felt she could possibly regain her human form, Sano told her that Tsume had asked to be present during the next transformation, as had the Sandaime Hokage, who had also asked that a Hyuuga and medic nin also be present for documentation and her safety. Moriko had hesitantly agreed, not altogether too keen of the idea of others watching while she was on the verge of passing out from pain.

Sano sent messages to the Hokage tower and to Tsume that Moriko was prepared to attempt a reverse transformation, and arrangements were made. A room at the Konoha Hospital was set aside and that afternoon, Sano and Moriko made their way across Konoha. Moriko felt her stomach tie itself in knots as she followed the veterinarian to the hospital. She moved stiffly and stayed close to the older man, feeling strange as she passed through the town not as a kunoichi, gaining smiles and greetings from the civilians and fellow nins, but as a canine.

She got a few glances and smiles from children as they passed with their parents, but otherwise she passed basically unnoticed through the town.

When they entered the hospital, she was immediately noticed by the pair of nurses at the front desk, who scowled. Moriko could practically read their thoughts as they sent silent glares to the tawny and white canine standing with the obviously Inuzuka man: 'How dare he bring that filthy animal in the hospital. We'll have allergy flare-ups and have to disinfect wherever they go.'

Still feeling awkward in her canine form she shifted a bit uneasily under the nurses' narrowed stare. She stayed close to Sano as he asked about the room reserved for her and the nurse at the counter stiffly gave him a room number.

Sano thanked the woman, voice a bit strained as he did so, then led the way down the hallways. Distractedly following Sano's chakra signature through the hospital, she took in the slowly fading, crisscrossing chakra signatures that easily outlived their owners' scent trails in the constantly cleaned and disinfected hallways.

When Sano entered her assigned hospital room Moriko hesitantly followed, quickly taking note of those already inhabiting the small, blindingly white, room.

Tsume was already there and, as far as Moriko could tell, she was much less angry than the last time they'd spoken. In fact, if Moriko could assign any sort of emotion to her aunt and clan leader, she'd choose drawn. She was obviously tired and stiff from lack of sleep, and had a scrape across one of her cheek that was new. 'Where had that come from?' she wondered as her aunt sent a nod to Sano and then turned her attention to her.

"Its good to see you on your feet, Moriko." Tsume said, even her voice sounded exhausted. Moriko lowered her head and drew her ears back, padding over to where her aunt sat in one of the small plastic chairs in the room. Tsume set a gentle hand on her head and ruffled her ears a bit, then muttered, "I'm sorry for how I acted last time. You had me scared to death."

Moriko's ears perked up a bit and her eyes turned hopeful.

Tsume snorted and crossed her arms, "Don't think this gets you out of training with me once we figure out your transformation. You've got an alternate form and you need to know how to fight in it if you need to."

Moriko sighed, "I know." She admitted and glanced around at the other occupants in the room.

The Hyuuga that had been asked to keep an eye on her chakra coils for excessive strain, and the medic nin on hand in case things went bad were conversing quietly across the room, although Moriko's sensitive ears could pick up the topic: the use of the gentle fists technique in medical treatments.

The Hyuuga looked like his clansmen, with dark hair, pale Byuukagan eyes, and perfect posture and holier-than-thou expression, although, judging from the conversation Moriko was overhearing, he appeared to be a bit more laid back than many of the other Huugas she'd met. As she looked the man over, she fixed his face with his scent and his chakra-signature, which was a bit distorted around his head for some reason. Once she was sure she'd be able to recognize him by scent and signature alone, Moriko turned her attention to the medic-nin.

He was middle aged and had a set of square glasses sitting on his nose, although they appeared to be more reading glasses than anything else, as he was glancing over them as he alternated between talked with the unnamed Hyuuga and glancing over a medical chart in his hands. He'd sent Sano a smile and a nod when he'd entered and also looked at Moriko curiously when she'd followed him in.

She sat and let her front legs slide out from beneath her and slid down to the floor, setting her head on her paws and focusing her attention on anything but the knots her guts were making.

She felt a familiar signature approaching down the hall and her ears perked up just as the faintest sound of footsteps was heard down the hallway.

The Sandaime Hokage entered the room and the shinobi in the room, including Moriko, all nodded their heads towards him, respectfully acknowledging his presence.

He exchanged greetings with the Hyuuga—whom Moriko learned was named Hachiro—and the medic nin, named Nakamura Masaru, then turned to the trio of Inuzuka. He smiled and greeted Sano and Tsume before turning his attention to Moriko.

"I see you're doing a lot better than the last time I saw you. Getting used to walking on four limbs?" the Hokage asked.

Moriko shrugged a bit, "Walking isn't too hard. I already knew how to do it instinctually. Its more not being human around other people that's difficult to adjust too."

Sandaime nodded his head, understanding lighting in his eyes before he asked, "Are you ready?"

Moriko swallowed the lump that had almost instantaneously appeared in her throat and nodded her head. The Hokage moved out of the way and glanced over at the medic nin, Nakamura-san, and indicated that he should take over.

The man removed his reading glasses from his nose and tucked them into the front pocket of his white lab coat, "Right," he said and turned his attention to Moriko, "So, based off of what I've been told about your initial transformation, we're expecting this one to be painful as well. Although, Sano-san and I both believe that it will be easier for your body to return to human form, as it is already intimately familiar with it. If this is true, and you do wish to transform into canine form again, we speculate that it will not be as painful as the initial transformation because of cellular memory of how everything changes correctly to become a dog."

Moriko nodded her head in understanding, she hoped dearly that the vet's and medic-nins' theory was correct. She was already feeling the advantages of her canine form, including the enhanced senses and anonymity. She also got the impression that covering long distances would be easier on her in the canine form, given the whining pleas from Inu-Moriko the past few days to go for a run, despite the aches in her limbs.

"When you're prepared to start, could you come to the center of the room so that it's easier for us to maneuver around you if there is any need for us?" the medic nin asked, although Moriko was familiar enough with the warrior healers to tell that it wasn't an actual question, but rather a veiled demand. Moriko complied wordlessly and stood in the center of the room.

She glanced around the room one more time before she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, falling into a quick meditative state and gathering her chakra into tiny strands like she'd done before. This time however, she noticed something as soon as she pushed her focus into a single cell. There was a new feature to the nucleus that made her pause, before she realized what it was.

Her body had synthesized a sort of switch to trigger the transformation.

Moriko hesitated a moment before she slowly 'flipped' the switch in her cells. Moriko could feel the transformation begin and let out a relived sigh when the pain was nowhere near the level of the first transformation. It still felt like her body was being stabbed with needles all over, but the burning feeling she remembered so well was more of a quick twinge of pain.

The twinge and all over needles feeling was slowly beginning to subside and Moriko felt herself slump a bit in relief. Then her spine stiffened and her teeth grit as her head exploded into agony and her world went blissfully white.

-

Tsume had been watching her niece's transformation with a mixture of fascination and horror. When the last bit of fur disappeared and Moriko was once more fully human, albeit this time without clothes on, she let out a sigh of relief. That sigh was cut off partway when Moriko suddenly stiffened and her jaw clenched tightly before she simply went slack and passed out. Tsume caught her before she hit the ground and as soon as she did, Nakamura Masaru was beside her, hands glowing green with a diagnostic jutsu.

While he was reading what his chakra told him of Moriko's condition, Sano brought over a blanket to wrap the naked teen up in.

A few moments later the medic nin frowned and announced, "Her sinuses are…augmenting themselves." He said and glanced over at the Hyuuga, who'd had his Byuukagan activated the whole time.

"Her chakra pathways around them are changing as well…they're thickening." He told them with a frown.

Tsume frowned and looked down at her niece, putting together the pieces of the puzzle and thinking about what she'd learned from her nieces notes on her jutsu. Sano appeared to be thinking about the same thing because he glanced up at Masaru and asked, "How human do her cells look to medical jutsus?"

Masaru frowned and his hands glowed green again and his eyes widened in surprise, "They're…partially canine according to diagnostics. More so than most Inuzukas too."

Sano and Tsume exchanged glances and then grimaced as the same thought occurred to both of them.

"What?" The Hokage asked from where he stood just behind the group crouched on the floor.

"What triggered the transformation was activating latent canine DNA, it may be impossible to fully deactivate it all again." Sano said as Tsume easily lifted up the petit girl wrapped in the blanket and moved her to the bed. "She can't turn as completely human as she was before and her body is changing to incorporate what DNA cannot be deactivated. If the change is centered around her sinuses—" he glanced at Masaru

"Mostly, although there are other small changes all over, none that you'll be able to see, but her brain stem is changing a bit as are her thyroids and, obviously her sinuses, and most of her nervous system as well." The medic nin said as he began scribbling notes down on the chart he'd abandoned earlier to run diagnostics.

"—Well, it looks as though her senses are changing…again." He sighed, "She'll probably be out for several days and when she does wake up she'll have migraines while her body finished augmenting and she adapts to the changes."

Sano's prediction was correct, and when Moriko stirred a few days later she grimaced as a sharp ache immediately began thrumming behind her eyes. She knew better at this point than to open her eyes and instead found herself moving her arm. She was pleased to note that it was human again, as far as she could tell from only flexing it.

She could feel someone approaching down the hallway and froze. She'd felt them, their chakra signatures. The new chakra sense was still there. She cracked an eye open and was met with the sight of the same blindingly white hospital room that she'd been in when she'd changed back. There were no fading chakra signatures on the floor to her eyes, but the sudden use of the optical organs had caused a shooting pain through her brain and she let them slide closed again.

She turned her attention back to the feeling of the chakra signatures and found that it wasn't just the single signature coming down the hall she could feel. There were dots of different chakra signatures all around her, but the further they were away from her, the 'fuzzier' they seemed to become.

She tried to pick out a single signature from the fuzzy region of her sensory range but couldn't get it to sharpen. She gave up on the distant signatures and turned her attention to one of the closer ones, feeling the tiny fluctuations that it gave and slowly getting a sense of the owner. When the signature stopped outside her door her ears picked up the sounds of speaking although she didn't put enough effort into her ears to hear what was being spoken about.

When the door opened, Moriko squinted an eye open and caught sight of a woman in scrubs checking in on her. When she noticed the squinted eye she looked surprised, "Oh, you're awake?"

Head throbbing, Moriko wasn't in the best of moods, 'No,' she snarked inwardly, 'I'm sleeping with an eye cracked and a higher heart rate than normal.' Outwardly she nodded her head very slightly.

"Are you feeling okay?" the nurse asked, oblivious to the clenched jaw and balled fists of the young Inuzuka.

"Head hurts." She croaked out through clenched teeth.

"Well, I'll go inform Masaru-san and get you something for your headache." She said cheerfully and vanished from the door.

As Moriko followed the oblivious bubbly nurse's signature down the hall she let her eye close again. 'It had better be something strong, because I don't think asprin is going to do anything for this.' She inhaled deeply and winced as her nose informed her of the recent cleaning of the hallway and all of her visitors in the past few days in disturbing detail. 'Sweet Kami-sama! Not again!'

A familiar signature was making its way down the hall towards her and soon Nakamura Masaru was opening the door to her room and approaching the bed.

"How are you feeling Inuzuka-san?" He asked, voice sounding quite loud to her despite the hushed tone he tried to give it.

"Like absolute crap." Moriko muttered, cracking an eye, "Waking up with a migraine isn't an experience I want to experience again any time soon."

Nakamura-san nodded and said, "Well, you managed to turn mostly human again, so that's an improvement from the last time, I assume."

"'Mostly human'?" Moriko asked, dreading the answer she was about to get.

"Hai, not all of the chromosomes you activated could be deactivated, so your body needed to augment itself to incorporate what the DNA was telling it." The medic nin said.

Moriko sighed and grumbled, "How in the hell is my body surviving all this without completely breaking down and rejecting everything?"

Masaru shrugged his shoulders, "I'm at a loss as well, but your immune system's evolved and from blood tests it looks like you're immune to some diseases now because you're more canine than before. We're unsure what will happen if we try and give you pure human blood though, so we're running tests on it right now along with its reactions to Inuzuka blood."

Moriko groaned, "Great. I may get immunity from disease, but its more likely for me to die from injury instead because I may be incompatable with donated blood." She grumbled and winced as her head gave a particularly sharp throb. "Any chance you've got something on you to stop my migraine?"

Masaru gave her a smile and pulled out a filled syringe from his labcoat, "Yeah, It'll probably knock you out too, so before I give it to you, is there anything else you want to know before hand?"

"How long was I out?" Moriko asked, teeth still clenched against the pain.

"It's been almost three days. I'll be sending word to your aunt that you've regained consciousness but are asleep, I know she's been in touch with your jounin sensei—Raido-san's stopped by a few times with your teammates."

Moriko winced, 'Damn. I really don't want to explain to those three about this, and I know I've got another lecture coming.' Then she felt a coolness and fatigue spread through her body gradually and she slowly drifted back off to sleep.

-

**End Notes:** Huzzah! Moriko's human again! Look forward to visits from teammates next chapter as well as a time skip forward a few months. I'm almost caught up in writing, ALMOST!

**Word Count:** 27,218/50,000

**-Greygryph**


	11. Chapter 11

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 11**

Moriko had been right. She did receive another lecture from her sensei, with her two teammates chiming in every once in a while.

She'd woken up the next day, feeling ridiculously calm and confused until she realized she was on some sort of sedative to help with the pain in her head. It didn't ease the pain at all, but it made her not give a damn about it.

When her teammates and sensei poked their heads in she merely blinked at them. Izumo and Kotetsu had figured out what was wrong much too quickly for Moriko's taste and had matching evil grins as they exclaimed, "Moriko's completely drugged up!"

Moriko couldn't muster the energy to even roll her eyes at her teammates. Instead she gave a slight sigh and turned her attention to her sensei, who's face was marred with disappointment. Here Moriko could muster up the energy to look apologetic and to look away from her sensei's eyes, at least until he barked at her to look at him.

Moriko'd complied and had received a very thorough lecture on her irresponsibility and ill planned out jutsus. Her teammates hadn't sent any teasing comments to her when they added something to the lecture, but instead expressed a great deal of worry and concern for her. When they'd finished Moriko was shaking a bit, despite the sedatives, and she whispered her apologies and proclaimed her stupidity and rashness.

Her teammates forgave her readily and each gave her a hug before they left Raidou-sensei with her for a few minutes, claiming the need to find something to drink.

When they returned they found Moriko and Raidou in much better spirits. Moriko had a small smile on her face and Raidou was reciting stories of what her teammates had been up to the past week and a half she'd been gone. They'd alternated between protesting loudly the accuracy of the tales and augmenting them to make the other chunin boy the butt of the joke.

"So," Kotetsu said as he held Izumo in a headlock for informing Moriko for his unfortunate accident involving a fall from a tree and a not so graceful landing in a blackberry bush. "What was it like being a dog?"

Moriko tilted her head to the side in contemplation, "Its hard to describe. The world is loud and smells way too much, everything's black and white, and I could see chakra. I can still sense it now, but not see it."

Raidou looked very interested and asked, "Just someone's aura?"

Moriko shook her head, "I could see their aura, and chakra being used in jutsus, and residue left over from everything."

"Have you considered what that sort of a skill might be useful in?" he asked and Moriko nodded, giving a grin.

"Scent concealing jutsus and the 'chameleon skin' camouflage won't work anymore. I can still feel them even if I can't see or smell them, plus I'll be able to track them by chakra trail alone if I change into canine form."

"So you ended up getting your wish after all." Raidou mused aloud, "Was it worth it, though?"

Moriko gave a small shrug, "I've no idea at this point in time, but I'll be making the most of my new senses and my new alternate form." She gave a small wince here, "Even if it means completing the combat training my aunt is planning for me in dog form."

Her two teammates winced and patted her arm, "We'll pray for you, Moriko-chan." Izumo said while Kotetsu nodded his head in agreement.

-

Moriko was released from the hospital a five days later, and was informed by her waiting aunt that she'd requested a months time to train her to fight and use her canine body to its highest potential.

During that one month she practiced the transformation and learned its limitations. She could adjust the speed in which she transformed, but the faster she went, the more painful it was, and while it was bearable in comparison to the first change, it was by no means comfortable. The speed of her transformation also changed how long her body needed to rest before she could change back. She'd been informed by both Nakamura-san and Sano that if she did too many changes too rapidly, it was likely that she could damage herself and her cells severely.

On average she found that a relaxed transformation took about five minutes and it took about twelve hours before she was able to change back without extreme risk of cellular damage. A rapid transformation kept her in alternate form for around 24 hours and could be completed in around two minutes. The rapid transformation often left her aching afterwards and in a rather foul mood, so she tried to avoid such speeds as much as she could.

When her aunt finally released her back to her team she'd began making a mental catalogue of Konohagakure's residents, both civilian and shinobi. She could recognize nearly a quarter of the village's population as 'from Konoha' by chakra signature in human form, and chakra trails if she was in canine form. It came in quite handy when her team needed to find someone or to pick out foreigners from crowds.

Moriko was also beginning to receive recognition as a tracking specialist in the village and had been, on occasion considered to help out hunter nins and groups of jounin to track down missing-nin spotted around fire country. It was only due to her sensei's protests that kept her off those dangerous missions until it was finally decided to split up team Raidou.

Izumo and Kotetsu were paired off together and given patrols and odd missions together and with others. Their seamless teamwork and silent communication became an asset for the duo as they could not be fooled by impersonators, even when Moriko herself tried to trick the two with a genjutsu.

Raidou was back to running A and B ranked missions serving as a bodyguard for wealthy feudal lords and the fire daimo's family. He missed his team, but there was no denying the bit of relief that came with being back in his normal occupation.

Moriko, now without anyone other than herself to protest high danger tracking missions, was often drafted to do just that. She found herself quickly adapting her chakra senses from tracking to detection and back again. She became a common choice for boarder patrols as well as on tracking missions. Because of this, Moriko found herself in and out of Konoha sporadically, and in the breaks between her out of town missions, Moriko was placed on wall patrol or wherever they needed an extra person throughout the village.

She'd just finished a week of wall patrols and in town missions when she got a quick message, delivered by a group of new genins and their sensei that she was being called in for a tracking mission. Moriko packed up a few spare changes of clothing and supplies for a standard tracking mission, set the bag aside to pick up later, and then she and Kumori headed off towards the Hokage tower for her mission briefing.

The charcoal dog was fully grown now, although he rarely acted like the adult he was supposed to be. His tail wagged happily as he and Moriko made their way to the tower at the center of town. Moriko's hands were stuck in the pockets of her sturdy murky brown Capri's and she navigated through the streets with her eyes closed against the bright sunlight blaring down at her.

She arrived at the tower and pulled her summons out from her jacket pocket as she climbed the stairs to the Hokage's office. After checking in with the secretary and studiously ignoring the hidden guards' signatures outside the office, Moriko entered the Hokage's office and found the village leader to be working his way through paperwork as it seemed he always was.

The Sandaime Hokage glanced up when Moriko entered and smiled, "Ah, Moriko, glad to see you. I'm afraid your partner for this mission will be here in a little bit, take a seat." He motioned to one of the comfortable chairs before his desk and Moriko complied

"I trust you're adjusting to working away from your teammates?" Sarutobi asked and set aside his pen.

Moriko nodded, "Yes, it's been a bit interesting but we still try to get together every once in a while."

"That's good, I always hate when teams get split up, but we're stretched a bit thin as it is and we needed each of the components of your team separately to run specialized missions."

"I understand." Moriko said, then cocked her head as she felt a signature appear outside the Hokage open window. A tall, lanky figure slipped inside and said, "Sorry I'm late. I needed to help a vendor clean up his spilt cart."

Moriko's bullshit detectors, honed from years of babysitting her young cousins and dealing with her teammates, went off and she rolled her eyes.

"Not to worry. Kakashi, this is Inuzuka Moriko. Moriko, this is Hatake Kakashi" The Hokage said and pulled out a scroll while Moriko and Kakashi exchanged quick greetings. The Sandaime Hokage tossed the scroll to Kakashi, and said "Two B-ranked missing nin were spotted not too far outside one of our northern outposts, you two," he glanced between Kakashi and Moriko, "Are to eliminate them. They've been preying on trading caravans for the last two weeks." Moriko nodded and turned to the other shinobi.

The name Kakashi was a familiar one to Moriko, although she'd never worked with him on any of her prior missions. The young jounin was lanky and slouched a bit as he stood. His hair was a shocking mop of silver, which drooped to one side of his head. The lower half of his face was covered with a skin tight black mask and his left eye was covered up by his forehead protector. Moriko subconsciously memorized his face, scent, and chakra signature as the jounin finished glancing over the mission.

He looked up at Moriko, his uncovered eyes bored, and said, "Well, let's meet at the west gate in half an hour. There's not much beyond was Hokage-sama just said and I can brief you as we head north."

Moriko nodded and headed for the door as Kakashi poofed out of the office with a flash of smoke and a flutter of leaves: the standard Konoha teleportation jutsu.

Moriko and Kumori headed by the Inuzuka compound on their way to their house to warn Tsume of her out of town mission. While she was there, her young cousin Kiba trotted over to her as quickly as his young legs would let him. Moriko grinned at him and scooped him up into a quick hug.

"Play with me?" the young boy asked, holding out his plushie wolf.

Moriko smiled and said, "Sorry, Kiba-chan, I've got a mission I need to go to."

"Go beat up bad guys?" Kiba asked visually perking up at the thought.

"More like go find bad guys, but yeah, in a round about way." Moriko said, but Kiba only frowned in confusion so Moriko said, "Yes, I'm going to go beat up bad guys."

Kiba cheered and Moriko set the boy back down and watched in amusement as he ran off down the hallway to play with his plushie in the living room.

Moriko giggled a bit and bid goodbye to her aunt before heading home to pick up her pre-packed backpack and heading off to the west gate.

When she arrived Kakashi was nowhere in sight and a familiar voice called out from the gate desk, "Please say you're here to relieve us, Moriko-chan."

Moriko grinned and headed over to the desk where her two ex-teammates were sitting in chairs bored out of their minds. Moriko caught sight of several kunai stuck in the ceiling, making the Konoha symbol and snorted. "Sorry, boys, but I'm not. Its only around ten, too. How can you be that bored already?"

Izumo and Kotetsu gave Moriko incredulous looks and replied in stereo, "We're log keepers for the gate."

Moriko snorted but didn't argue against their reasoning. She leaned against the desk and glanced at the log book. Almost nobody had passed through the gate that morning.

A poof and the sudden appearance of a now identifiable chakra signature warned Moriko of her partners' arrival even before he called out, "Yo. Ready to go?"

Moriko nodded and hoisted her bag onto her shoulder from where she'd dropped it next to the desk and hastily wrote her name on the appropriate log for her teammates before handing it over to Kakashi to sign himself out as well.

Then Moriko and Kumori sent a wave to her two ex-teammates and headed out the gate after Kakashi.

"Old classmates?" Kakashi asked Moriko as they headed towards the road that headed north from the village.

"Old teammates. We got split up last year." Moriko replied, then asked, "So mission plan?"

Kakashi nodded and began outlining a basic plan. "The nins were after aren't too dangerous, but they're good at disappearing and ambushing. We've got the location of their last merchant raid and hopefully we can get a trail from there. If not we'll have to start searching the area nearby. How are you at combat?"

Moriko shrugged, "I can hold my own, but I'm more of an ambush type. I'm good at genjutsus and misdirection so I can take opponents out quickly, but I don't have brute strength on my side." She said and Kakashi nodded.

"Then we can try and take them out with an ambush, but if that fails I can handle them head on." He said and glanced up at the sun, "lets pick up the pace a bit so we can get there before tomorrow night." Moriko nodded and followed Kakashi into the trees and kept pace as they leapt through the branches, Kumori following with ease.

-

**End Note:** Okay, I'm mostly caught up on writing so I can finally post some of this. Huzzah for time skipping and the introduction of everyone's favorite silver-haired pervert! Plus young Kiba! Huzzah cute cuddly Inuzukas! Be prepaired for some extreme timeskipping next chapter!

**Word Count:** 29,561/50,000

**-Greygryph**


	12. Chapter 12

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 12**

When they stopped to set up a basic camp, Moriko sent Kumori to find something for their supper while she and Kakashi fanned out and armed noisemaking traps and tripwires around their camp. Kumori returned, his tail wagging proudly as he carried a rabbit in his jaws. Moriko quickly gutted and skinned the rabbit and split it up between two spicks and a pile for Kumori and set the spicks to roasting after seasoning it with a bit of salt and herbs she'd gathered as she set up traps.

When the food was ready she passed Kakashi his spick and dug into her own.

Moriko saw a flash of movement across the fire and was shocked to find that Kakashi had already finished his food and his mask was back in place. He was still chewing but looked very surprised. When he swallowed he said, "That was very good."

Moriko shrugged, "Not much you can do in the field so its not too hard. I don't get why everyone's always surprised."

Kakashi shrugged and pulled out a small orange book, "Most shinobi seem to lack any culinary skills." He said, "Myself included."

Moriko's eyes caught the title of the book Kakashi was reading and she groaned as she tossed her skewer into the fire, "Kami-sama, you read that smut? It rots brains."

Kakashi sent her an insulted look, "how dare you! I bet you don't even read." He said voice teasing even as he turned back to his book.

Moriko raised an eyebrow and pulled her own book from her utility pouch, "Guess again, pervert. Mine even has a discernable plot and character development."

"Well mine has…" he trailed off for a second, obviously deciding against his initial word choice, "…unsurpassed description." He finally decided on.

Moriko snorted and rolled her eyes, tucking her book away, "Just so long as you don't read it aloud, or I may have to commandeer it and use it for kindling."

Kakashi clutched the book close to him and looked disgusted, "You threaten to burn literature!" his eye narrowed, "Book burner." He accused and Moriko couldn't help but giggle.

"You want first or second watch?" she finally asked once she stopped grinning.

"I'll take first watch, you go ahead and get some sleep." He said and flipped a page.

Moriko again rolled her eyes, but pulled out her bedroll, crawling inside and turning her face away from the small fire. Kumori curled himself up on top of her feet and Moriko quickly drifted off to sleep. She, like other shinobi above genin rank, had adapted the ability to sleep quickly and deeply while still being able to wake up alert at a moment's notice.

When she felt a hand on her shoulder several hours later, her eyes snapped open and her chakra senses flared, picking up nothing but Kumori and Kakashi. She nodded her thanks to Kakashi and sat up, Kumori yawning and stretching his legs out as she did so. The canine wandered away from the main camp, careful to avoid traps, to relieve his bladder. When he returned Kakashi was already asleep in his bedroll and Moriko had thrown her own over her shoulders to keep warm.

She faced away from the fire and let her chakra senses and enhanced hearing and sense of smell tell her of all the happenings in the forest.

When day dawned, Kakashi woke without needing to be roused and the two of them erased all evidence of their stay in the forest before continuing north. Keeping their speed at a good pace, they arrived at the north outpost around noon and to the last attack site about an hour later.

When they arrived Moriko and Kumori instantly went to work sorting out scents and identifying merchant from attacker until they got a good hold on both the missing nins' scents. "We've got them." She told Kakashi and let Kumori take the lead as the scent trails headed off into the forest.

Moriko had to hand it to the two nins, they were very good at hiding their trail and making it difficult to follow. They went through trees, over rocks, and leapt as far forward as they could at times to break up scent trails. About a mile from the attack site Kumori stopped suddenly and told Moriko, "Scent hiding jutsu."

Moriko heaved a sigh and glanced at Kakashi, who was looking at the pair expectantly.

"They've used a scent concealing jutsu and have taken to the trees, so there's no visible trail to follow." Moriko said and glanced around at the trees immediately surrounding them, she found one with a hallow in it and slid off her backpack, shoving the drab bag into the hole and covering following it with her jacket.

"So we're at a dead end then." Kakashi asked, eying Moriko oddly as she took off her utility pouch and kunai hostler and hid them with her bag and coat.

"No, it just means I need to use alternate tactics I was hoping I wouldn't have to use." She said and slipped out of her combat sandals and hid them with the rest of her supplies. "Stay put for five minutes, I'll be right back." Moriko ignored Kakashi's quiet protests and slipped out of sight.

An irritated Kakashi sighed and glanced at Kumori, "You have any idea what she's doing?"

Kumori nodded his head and gave his tail a slight wag before turning his head expectantly towards where Moriko had vanished.

A little under five minutes later, Kumori's ears perked and his tail wagged harder. Kakashi glanced into the woods and saw a tawny and white hybrid, about the same size as Kumori but obviously built for speed more than muscle, trotting over to them, a green-brown bundle in its mouth.

Kakshi was tense as the new animal boldly approached him and Kumori, it looked Kakashi in the eye and rolled its own before passing by him and dropping the bundle outside of where Moriko had just hid her clothes before nudging them in the hollow and covering them with a few leaves. It was then Kakashi noticed the Konoha forehead protector tied around the canine's neck.

"Moriko?" He asked hesitantly, visible eye narrowed in confusion.

The dog turned and gave a wry grin, "Yeah." She said simply and padded over to where Kumori stood by the end of the scent trail.

"How…?" Kakashi began then shook his head, "later. How is…this going to help us out any?"

Moriko's eyes were fixed on a spot on the ground but she replied in a matter-of-fact way: "I can see chakra trails. Scent concealing jutsus simply strengthen the trail of chakra residue." She trailed off then grinned widely, "Got 'em. Time to go!" she said and leapt forward, using a log as a launching point to get herself up into the trees. Kakashi and Kumori followed, Kakashi wondering why he always ended up with such strange people on missions.

Moriko led them for an additional two miles before she came to an abrupt stop and waited for Kakashi and Kumori to join her before she said softly, "their camp's about one hundred yards up there. There's only the two of them. What's the plan of attack?"

Kakashi paused for a moment and then asked, "Can you still use jutsus like this?"

Moriko nodded, "More basic ones, but yeah."

"Cover yourself and Kumori in one and get as close as you can, I need you to make sure neither of them escape when I go at them." The silver-haired teen said, and Moriko noticed then just how much the slightly older teen's personality had changed as soon as they started in on the mission proper.

Moriko nodded and focused for a moment and Kakashi felt a slight flare in chakra before it and the two canines vanished and he heard the slightest rustling of the two large dogs making their way down to the ground.

Moriko and Kumori stalked forward, working seamlessly despite not being able to see one another. Instead they both focused on the slight sound of the others' movement and at times their breathing and heartbeat. They found the nuke-nins' traps set up along the preimiter of their camp site and easily avoided them along with any dry brush and potential noise making objects.

They maneuvered themselves to the perimeter of the camp site, opposite to where Moriko felt Kakashi's chakra signature in the trees. They readied themselves for an ambush and waited for Kakashi to make his move.

Moriko waited patiently, watching the two missing nin and keeping her chakra sense honed on Kakashi. When she felt his chakra flare minutely she tensed and prepaired to cut off escape routes.

Kakashi slammed a kunai into one of the nin's unprotected side then leapt back as the injured nin slashed at him with his own knife. The other nin made to bolt from the scene while Kakashi was busy finishing off his partner. As he kicked off the ground for the trees he was jerked back as two sets of invisible jaws latched onto his legs.

He yelled in surprise and tried to ward off his invisible attackers, kicking out and knocking his damaged legs free. There was a slight yelp and both jaws released. The nin brought his hands up to cancel the genjutsu hiding the canine attackers but never had the opportunity too before a knife slashed across his throat.

Moriko let her genjutsu fade as the man bled out rapidly. Kakashi watched the dying man with cold eyes and bent to retrieve his forehead protector before glancing at the two canines who were splattered with a bit of blood.

"You two okay?" Kakashi asked and Moriko nodded.

"I'll have a bruise, but nothing serious." The kunoichi-turned-canine said and looked between the two dead nins. "You know a katon jutsu?"

Kakashi nodded and dragged the second nin over to his partner before stepping back and setting them alight to destroy their bodies. The jounin and two canines watched them flames until both bodies were nothing but ash and then left the camp site.

Moriko steered them towards where she'd left her supplies and asked, "You still want an explanation?"

Kakashi shrugged and pulled out his perverted orange book, "I figure it's probably mostly classified because I've never heard anything about it, but feel free to share whatever you can."

Moriko rolled her eyes, "It's a true transformation, not an illusion or anything like that and it doesn't require chakra to maintain so I can stay in this form indefinitely. It does however put stress on my body so I can't change back immediately."

"How long do you need to wait now?" he asked

"a few hours, I'll be human again by night." Moriko said and noticed Kakashi slump a bit more than normal, "What?" Moriko asked.

"You won't be able to make dinner." Kakashi grumbled and Moriko snorted.

-

When they made it back to Konoha, the two handed in their mission reports and headed their separate ways. It was a few months later when Moriko spotted the jounin as she exited a grocery store with her purchases. He looked exhausted and was heading away from the Hokage tower fiddling with a cut in the sleeve of his uniform.

"Oi, Kakashi!" she called after him and the jounin paused, glancing over at her and giving a small wave in greeting.

"Hey, Moriko." He said and shoved his hands in his pockets

"How've you been holding up?" Moriko asked, eyeing the man's ill fitting uniform with a frown.

"Okay." He said with a shrug, "I've been running a lot of missions. I just got home and needed to get some food for my pantries." He lifted up his own bag of groceries and Moriko noticed it was filled with cheap microwave meals.

She narrowed her eyes at the jounin, "Is that what you're living off of?" she asked, voice giving away some of her irritation.

Kakashi shrugged, "Haven't gotten my last paycheck yet and I can't cook much anyways—hey!" he exclaimed as Moriko grabbed one of his arms and began pulling him down the street.

"Those do not constitute as food, Kakashi. You're coming over for dinner."

Kakashi blinked at the statement of fact and said, "I don't—" he began to protest when Moriko cut him off.

"Argue with me and I'm burning your perverted book." She told him with a slight glare.

Kakashi snapped his mouth shut and allowed himself to be led through the streets of Konoha even after Moriko let go of his arm. He began glancing around at the houses and noting that they weren't headed to the Inuzuka compound, but somewhere else nearby.

Moriko finally paused at a front gate and unlatched it before heading up the front walkway with Kakashi following. Moriko opened the front door without unlocking it and called in, "You'd better not have been raiding my fridge, boys!"

"We weren't!" a male voice called back from further in the house as Moriko shut the door after Kakashi.

"Kumori wouldn't let us anywhere near it anyways! We just set the kettle on for tea." A second male voice added and Kakashi followed Moriko into the kitchen where two other teens sat at a large butcher block table. Kakashi recognized them as the two gate keepers from his mission with Moriko and reminded himself they were her ex-teammates.

Moriko set her grocery bags on the counter and looked to Kumori who was sprawled in front of the refrigerator, "Good work, Kumori." The charcoal dog wagged his tail happily. Moriko turned to her teammates and glanced at Kakashi, "Boys, this is Hatake Kakashi, I ran a mission with him a while back and—"

"and you decided he wasn't eating properly and forced him to come eat a real dinner." One of her old teammates said with a wide grin.

"Welcome to Moriko's group of adopted mal-fed shinobi." The other told Kakashi and Moriko snorted.

"Kakashi, these two idiots are my ex-teammates, Hagane Kotetsu," she indicated the teen with spiky hair spilling over the top of his forehead protector, "and Kamizuki Izumo." She pointed to the teen who had his forehead protector covering his head like a skullcap. "And if either of you want to complain about eating here—"

"No! No complaints!" The two younger shinobi exclaimed and Moriko snorted.

"Go ahead and have a seat, tea'll be up as soon as the water heats up." Moriko said and unpacked her groceries, pulling out knives and chopping boards as she did so to begin cooking.

Dinner at Moriko's, Kakashi decided, was a very enjoyable way to relax after a hard day's work. There was good food and entertaining conversation. After Izumo and Kotetsu left to head back to their own shared apartment, Kakashi lingered to help Moriko finish cleaning the kitchen.

"You don't need to help clean up." Moriko said as Kakashi helped scrub and dry dishes.

Kakashi shrugged, "You fed me. It seems like a good way to say thanks."

Moriko snorted, "No thanks are necessary, Izumo and Kotetsu already skived off." She said then paused, "You're always invited, you know. I always make extra food because my teammates—ex-teammates—tend to show up out of the blue. I know you run a lot of out of town missions in ANBU—and yes I know, Ookami-san, your chakra signature doesn't lie—but you can always drop by when you're in town if you want food that you don't need to zap in the microwave."

Kakashi had frozen when Moriko meantioned she knew he was a part of the special black ops team, but slowly relaxed again afterwards and gave a slight nod, "I may end up taking you up on that offer." He said.

"Good, I won't have to resort to force feeding you to satisfy my feeding-people-gene." Moriko said and rinsed off the last plate, "Go get some sleep, you need it." She told him and Kakashi shook his head.

"It feels strange to be mothered by someone younger than me." He said and grabbed his bag of microwave dinners from where he'd stashed them in Moriko's freezer.

"Well, somebody has to do it." Moriko retorted as Kakashi left out the kitchen door, tossing a wave back at Moriko as he left.

Cooking extra food became second nature to Moriko, and her 'Moochers' as she dubbed them, became a nightly addition to her dinner table along with the occasional visit from her cousin Mai.

It was early in July, three years after the Kyuubi attack, that Moriko received a promotion to special jounin for her tracking at detection abilities. With the elevated ranking she began to run higher ranking missions more and more often. Whenever she was back in town, she was always joined by her comrades for dinner.

When Mai graduated from the academy two years later she threw a party to celebrate the occasion. She continued to keep an eye out for her cousin even as she trained with her new team and sensei.

She was swapped around from team to team running random C and D ranked missions, with the occasional A rank mixed in. She became one of the top choices for 'breaking in' new jounins and special jounins on boarder patrol as per Konoha tradition.

She wasn't sure when and where the tradition first started, but every jounin she ever worked with had had one of their first missions running a boarder patrol, except for those who'd been promoted during the war with Iwa. Her first mission after her promotion had been a patrol of the north-western border of Fire country.

It was the autumn after her twenty second birthday when she got a note informing her that she was being sent out on boarder patrol with a newly promoted special jounin. Any more details were reserved for the actual mission scroll

So Moriko packed her bag and set it by the door, all ready for the next day, then whistled for Kumori and slipped out the front door of her house, determined to get home before it got too late.

Moriko headed to the Inuzuka compound to warn her aunt that she'd be missing the next clan meeting, which was only a few days away. While she was there she found Hana helping her little brother Kiba with some of his academy homework. She made sure to stop by and say 'hello' to the fourteen year old Hana and nine year old Kiba.

When she did so, Kiba's new puppy Akamaru yapped happily from his perch on Kiba's head, warning Kiba and Hana of Moriko's presence in the doorway.

"Hey, Moriko!" Hana called happily "Are you going to be over for dinner Sunday night?"

Moriko shook her head, "No, sorry, Hana-chan, I'm headed out to boarder patrol. You'll have to wait until next time to get my cookies."

Hana and Kiba both pouted a bit, before Kiba suddenly perked up, "When you get back will you help me with my taijutsu? Iruka-sensei says I rely too much on offence and my defense needs some work, and mom's always busy and Hana's always too tired when she gets home." He stuck his tongue out at his sister who rolled her eyes in reply.

"Well, she just made chunnin, and they keep the chunnin working pretty hard. I'll try, I should be running in town missions for a week or so after I get back. I need to get going though, I need to stop by and warn Mai I won't be home for a while…and my moochers." Moriko shook her head and continued, "I'm distracting you from your homework anyways, Kiba-kun, if your sensei's anything like mine was, unfinished homework is not accepted. I'll see you when I get back!" she called over her shoulder as she left, Kumori bounding after her after saying his own goodbyes to the other ninken in the house.

Moriko swung by Mai's house on her way off the compound and found the young, and newly promoted chunnin, sitting on the roof and Moriko jumped up to join her. As she sat down, she ruffled Mai's canine partner, Amaya's, ears, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Mai sighed and glanced at Moriko from the corner of her eye, tucking some loose strands of hair that had escaped her twin braids behind her ears, "Mom's being really pissy and I'd rather avoid her right now than anything else."

Moriko was silent for a minute and said, "I've got patrol, I'll be gone for two weeks." She frowned when she felt Mai droop a bit beside her, "I'll tell you what, I'm going to get a spare key made for my house—yes I know you can pick locks, but it's the symbol of the thing, plus it keeps you from getting arrested if you ever get sloppy and let my neighbors see you." Mai gave a snort.

"I'm never sloppy." The fourteen year old protested

"You say that now, but some day you'll be too tired or distracted…anyways I'll drop off the key tomorrow before I leave, okay?" Moriko watched Mai closely.

Mai turned and gave Moriko a smile, "Thanks, Moriko-neesan." She said and Moriko blinked.

"You haven't called me that since you graduated from the academy." She commented and Mai didn't say anything else. "If you don't want to stay here tonight write a quick note to your mom and come on, I've still got to warn my moochers they're on their own for a while…" Moriko paused and corrected herself, "Well, the boys are out on border patrol too, so we just have one more stop to make before we head back."

Mai gave a relieved sigh and leaned over Amaya to give Moriko an awkward hug, "Thank you so much! I'll be right back." Mai and Amaya disappeared down the side of their house and Moriko followed their chakra signatures through the house while she visited her room for what she'd need for an overnight and wrote a quick note to her mother. Said woman was in the living room and had apparently not noticed her daughter leave the note in the kitchen. Moriko frowned at that and muttered to Kumori, "Kunoichi she may not be, but she's still an Inuzuka and should have heard her or something." She shook her head and cleared it of the disappointed thoughts when Mai reappeared with a backpack slung on her shoulder.

She gave a wide excited grin, "Let's go bug Kakashi-san now!"

Moriko rolled her eyes, "If he's even home right now." She said and lead the way across rooftops to Kakashi's flat.

Kakashi was indeed home and it only took the two Inuzuka's landing on the windowsill outside a window to get him to open it up for them.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked as Moriko stepping down inside the flat and gave the ex-ANBU captain a small smile.

"Sorry for dropping by so late, I'm on border patrol staring tomorrow, so you'll have to fend for yourself for two weeks." Moriko said and Kakashi slumped a bit before straightening.

"I've got plenty of money saved up, I can live on takeout for two weeks." Moriko glared at that, "And I'll be sure to eat healthily too." He promised, rolling his eyes at the tiny Inuzuka.

"Make sure you do." Moriko said and glanced back at Mai before continuing, "and make sure Mai-chan isn't getting into trouble too."

"Hey! I can look out for myself!" Mai protested and Moriko gave her a bland look. Mai pouted and muttered, "Most of the time."

Rolling his eyes at the cousins he said, "I'll try, but my in town week is almost up before I get sent out again."

Moriko nodded and glanced out the window at the sky, "That's all I can ask, we need to get going. I need to get some sleep. Ja." She said and climbed back out the open window, heading off across rooftops with Mai close behind after she said her own goodbyes to the silver-haired man.

-

**End Note**: Huzzah Kakashi! He's very fun to write. This is the first chapter of a massive "finish posting my NaNoWriMo project so my roommate can read it" post. My e-mail won't send the story without a long string of complaints, which is VERY understandable, given the size of this. A quick warning about these end notes too: they may not be completely coherent (and I may be skipping over chapter notes entirely) because I'm lazy and on some strong pain killers which make me only a bit loopy. 

**Word Count:** 33,592/50,000

**-Greygryph**


	13. Chapter 13

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 13**

The next morning Moriko woke before Mai and took a quick shower, making herself breakfast and leaving a plate for Mai along with a note asking her not to burn down her house and went to go get a spare key made. While the locksmith was making the spare, Moriko ran over to the Inuzuka compound to speak with Tsume before she left.

She asked her clan leader to look in on Mai's mother and see what was going on, and asked her to keep an eye on the teen herself.

When she did so, Tsume snorted a bit in amusement, "You're turning into your father, Moriko. You worry too much about others and try to protect everyone."

Moriko sent her aunt a smile, "It's in my blood. Plus Inu-Moriko's really big on the whole 'protect the pack' thing." Moriko caught a glance at the clock and swore softly, "I've got to run, I'm giving Mai a spare key to my house in case she and her mom have a fight while I'm gone." Tsume sighed a bit, obviously disappointed in the strained relationship Mai and her mother had. "I'll stop by when I'm back in town so I can catch up on what happened at the clan meeting. Thanks Tsume!" she said and disappeared outside, dashing towards the locksmith to pick up her key.

After dropping the key off to a half asleep Mai who was slowly working her way through the breakfast Moriko'd made her, she tore off towards the Hokage tower.

She and Kumori leapt over rooftops and passed a squad of ANBU patrolling the village. She waved distractedly at them as she passed, heading in the opposite direction, and she recognized a few of the signatures as shinobi she'd run tracking missions with before.

When she arrived at the tower, she decided against using the window as an entrance and headed into the building. She smiled sheepishly at the secretary and 'hidden' ANBU guards outside the Hokage's office as the woman shook her head and let her into the office.

"Gomen, Hokage-sama! I lost track of time when I was talking with Tsume!" Moriko said as she entered, giving the aging Hokage an embarrassed bow.

Sandaime waved off her apology and gave Moriko a smile, "It's fine. I was just wondering if Kakashi was starting to wear off on you, but I understand it's often hard escaping from family quickly." He said kindly and motioned across the room to where a kunoichi Moriko recognized from around Konoha, but had never met before stood, "Moriko-san, this is Yoshida Tetsu, she's your partner for this mission. Tetsu-san, this is Inuzuka Moriko."

Yoshida Tetsu, Moriko observed, had sharp eyes that didn't miss much of anything. She was taller than Moriko by a few inches, although Moriko'd yet to meet another shinobi as short as she was, and had her long brown hair braided back behind her. A glint of metal in the braid warned Moriko of hidden spikes in the hair to ward off anyone trying to grab it. She was dressed in comfortable, maneuverable clothes, with plenty of steel mesh fishnet favored my shinobi, Moriko herself always wore a shirt of it under her clothes—experience had taught her that an added layer of protection is always a good thing. Moriko noted a pair of ninjaken strapped to her back and a third on her lower back, 'kenjutsu specialist?' she wondered and then gave the younger woman a smile, "It's nice to meet you, Tetsu-san." She said and offered her hand to shake.

The young special jounin smiled back and shook her hand, "Nice to meet you too Moriko-san." She said and then offered her hand to Kumori to sniff at.

The ninken sniffed it a second then grinned and jumped up, happily washing the woman's face with his tongue. Tetsu blinked at the sloppy dog kisses as the giant charcoal dog dropped back down and looked back at Moriko, whose face clearly said, "Are you serious?"

"I like her!" Kumori barked, his tail wagging happily.

Moriko offered Tetsu a sheepish laugh and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, "Sorry, this is Kumori. He's my idiot ninken who lacks anything resembling manners." Moriko sent said canine a glare.

"Oh come on, Moriko!" Kumori whined, his ears drooping as he gave the woman his best sad-puppy-eyes.

Moriko's mouth twitched towards a smile and she turned back to Tetsu and the Hokage and she asked, "So where's our patrol going to be?"

The Sandaime pulled out a scroll and pushed his glasses onto his face, "you two are patrolling our border with Grass, and while the country itself isn't openly hostle towards Konoha, they are right between Rock and us. While we do have a peace treaty in effect, they're still none too fond of us. That said, it's been quiet so don't expect much trouble, or activity. Your relief will come to replace you in two weeks and will have a scroll with a red and green seal on it." The aging Hokage rolled up the scroll and offered it to Moriko who tucked it into her light jacket's pocket to read in a bit. "Good luck and we'll see you back here in a little over two weeks." The two kunoichi nodded and bowed, before heading out the office.

As they descended the stairs and exited the Hokage tower Moriko glanced at Tetsu and asked, "So, what do you specialize in to get special jounin rank?"

Tetsu smirked and sent Moriko a mischievous look, "Information gathering. I just got promoted earlier this month and was traveling around for a while before that."

Moriko nodded, "Well then, welcome to the ranks of the awkward stage in between Chunnin and Jounin. May you find good blackmail material on the ass-ish jounins who like to pick on us."

Tetsu laughed, "That what you ended up doing? You good at information gathering too?" she asked.

Moriko adopted a haughty look, "I'm an Inuzuka, blackmail material is easy to find when your nose and ears are almost as good as, or as good as, a trained ninken. I'm a tracking and detection specialist. I was a stupid teenager and as a result I can feel chakra signatures too, so there's no hiding from me within about a hundred and twenty yards or so." Moriko blinked a bit then laughed, "Damn, you just have one of those personalities, ne? You make everyone just want to talk?"

Tetsu grinned, "Charisma is essential for information gathering."

Moriko shook her head, "And you have it in spades, Tetsu-san. I may have to call on you to help get information out of some people I know."

Tetsu nodded her head in agreement, "Just point them out."

Moriko pulled the mission scroll from her pocket and steered them towards the western gate, "So, are you all ready to go?"

Tetsu lifted her pack which was slung across her left shoulder, Moriko noted that the slung bag still allowed her access to her ninjaken. "I'm all set."

Moriko cocked her head as she took note, once more, of the three ninjaken strapped to her back. "I take it kenjutsu is one of your strong suits?"

Tetsu grinned and pulled one of the three short blades from its sheath and offered it to Moriko. The tracking specialist accepted the weapon and found it to be very well balanced, but, like almost all weapons, just felt wrong in her grip. "When I need to fight, I use two ninjaken. The third one is a spare." Tetsu said while Moriko examined the blade and handed it back to its owner.

Moriko nodded sagely and said, "It's always good to have a spare."

They reached the gate and signed the exit log for the village before each sending a final glance at the village and heading out, taking a road that'd lead them northwest and take them to the boarder to Grass.

As they walked Moriko skimmed the scroll, searching for anything new since the last time she ran boarder patrol. Finding nothing she rolled it back up and shoved it in her backpack.

Tetsu saw Moriko storing the scroll and asked, "So…?"

Moriko gave a half shrug, "Nothing new, it's a basic patrol with no real warnings aside from those given in the Hokage tower."

Tetsu stared at Moriko a second blandly and said, "Assume I'm completely oblvious to what happens on boarder patrol."

Moriko gave a bark of laughter and said, "Right, boarder patrol 101, coming up. Patrols are made up of four members, which are rotated two at a time every week. And the actual act of patrolling just means we keep an eye on all entering and exiting shinobi and civilians. Everyone entering and exiting needs to have the right papers specifying the right to enter or leave the country. We cannot enter the boarders of other nations and will not stir up trouble for the other patrol group across the boarder. If any civilians try to cross without proper papers, we send them back. If any shinobi try to cross without papers we ask them to go back and if they argue we capture them and alert Konoha. If we cannot capture or if they pose too much of a threat to keep alive, we kill them." Moriko shook her head as she finished, "sorry, I slipped into lecture mode there. Too much time looking after my cousins."

"And their pups." Kumori added and Moriko translated with a wry grin.

"there's nothing like a nine-year-old boy and his puppy to make you feel old and slow." Moriko told Tetsu who laughed a bit and nodded her head in agreement.

As the duo of kunoichi traveled across the country, bypassing many of the small towns and villages scattered throughout the heavily wooded area, almost constant conversation was being held. Moriko was sure the new tokubetsu jounin was gaining a lot more insight than she was during the conversations, but she didn't care too much. The only thing she made sure to avoid mentioning was the specifics of her "stupid jutsu." Along with mundane topics, the two also found themselves exchanging descriptions of their fighting styles, in case of combat.

Tstsu, Moriko found, was good with lightning jutsus and had even found a way to combine the elemental chakra with her ninjaken. She also picked up that a lot of what Tetsu learned was from trial and error situations. Tetsu was also much better suited for frontal combat than Moriko, although it was obvious the taller woman tried to avoid frontal combat if at all possible. She was also very analytical and there was a lot of thinking and problem solving involved in her combat.

Moriko, on the other hand, was an ambusher. She preferred tricking her opponents with genjutsu and attacking before they had a chance to even realize they were in an illusion. She struck hard and fast and, if her opponent was still alive after the first strike, she would dance around their attacks and confuse them with more minor genjutsus and some well placed speed, along with tag teaming with Kumori. Moriko didn't deny that if irritated, she could get downright nasty, and was not afraid to take out someone's throat with her own teeth and claws. The fact that her chakra awareness told her the location of every living, or chakra infused, object within a hundred yards (give or take) made her deadly in the dark or when in a smokescreen of some sort.

The two set up camp in a clearing Moriko knew of when the day started to wane to night, and in the following morning Tetsu hit Moriko with one of the most random, out of the blue, questions she'd yet to be asked during a mission.

"So, do you have a boyfriend or something waiting back in Konoha?" She asked and Moriko actually stumbled.

The small Inuzuka sent Tetsu an incredulous look, "Random much?" she asked and Tetsu looked a bit sheepish and shrugged. "To answer the question though, no. Every guy I ever go out on a date with ether ends up categorized under 'complete and total ass' or 'cool guy friend material,' hell, I don't think my closest friends help any either." she scowled at the memory of one particular 'date' where the guy in question fled before an hour was up and she quickly found Izumo, Kotetsu, and Kakashi to be the reason behind it. She'd growled at them and banned them from dinner at her house for a week. They hadn't stopped sending subtle bursts of killing intent at her dates, but they'd certainly learned to hide better. She shook her head to rid herself of the memory and shrugged, "It's not like I'm trying too hard to find a boyfriend either, I'm too busy with missions. What about you? Any love interest for you, oh newly-promoted-special-jounin."

Tetsu shook her head, "Nope, nobody. Bit hard to have a boyfriend when you just get back from a long training trip."

Moriko nodded her head and glanced around, taking note of their surroundings. "Right, we're almost there." They leapt up into the trees and started searching for the current patrol.

"I wonder who we'll be working with at the border." Tetsu stated as the two leapt through trees, Kumori close behind them.

Moriko frowned and said, "All the mission scroll said is that we're replacing Iwata Haruki and Fukudu Hotaka. I've run patrols with both of them, they're good shinobi. Hopefully the other two will be shinobi I recognize."

At that point they reached the edge of the patrol perimited and Moriko led the way to a nice tall lookout tree and focused on extending her chakra senses as far as she could, feeling the strain in her brain as it started to ache soon afterwards. "They should be around here somewhere." She muttered and searched for a chakra signature not belonging to either Kumori or Tetsu or the surrounding flora and fauna.

"Ma, Mori-chan. I didn't expect to see you running boarder patrol again so soon." A cheerful voice said from right behind Moriko.

The petit Inuzuka spun in surprise, lost her grip on the chakra she used to hold herself to the tree, tried to regain her balance, and prepared to defend herself all in one movement. Needless to said it greatly resembled flailing and trying to regain her balance on the high branch. A hand grabbed her by the forearm and helped her to regain her balance.

"I honestly didn't think I'd ever live to see the day Kotetsu and I got the drop on you, Moriko-chan." A second all too familiar voice drawled from a nearby tree branch.

Moriko snarled at her helped, reapplied chakra to her feet and bopped the grinning chunnin before her proclaiming, "Baka!" as she did so.

The messy-haired man grinned mischieveously at Moriko, not at all affected by the bop to the head he'd just received. His slightly taller companion sniggered slightly from his nearby perch, grateful he'd decided to stay out of the kunoichi's reach.

Moriko glared between the two grinning men thinking, 'Of all the shinobi in the village for her to be assigned patrol with, it had to be her ex-teammates.' She heaved a sigh and rubbed at her temples, 'Well, on the upside I already know how they work. The downside however…They are going to sully Tetsu's ears with tales of embarrassing events from her genin days and maybe some more recent events.' A sudden idea hit her and she grinned at her teammates a bit evily. Kotetsu and Izumo looked slightly nervous. 'At least I have plenty of my own to retaliate with.'

Tetsu, meanwhile, had done nothing but blink as she watched the three shinobi interact with one another. If she wasn't mistaken, it would appear as though she, Tetsu, had sensed the two shinobi before Moriko had.

"Ano, Moriko san?" she asked, gaining the attention of all three shinobi. When Moriko cocked her head at Tetsu in a very dog-like fashion she continued a bit sheepishly, "Are you feeling okay? I mean, I didn't want to say anything, but I sensed these two a little ways back. I thought you had too, but…If you didn't…If you're ill, I'm pretty sure we can go back, the Hokage would understand."

Kotetsu and Izumo burst out laughing and Moriko looked like she was either trying to vanish or have an anurism. Kotetsu glanced at Izumo and grinned evilly, grabbing Moriko in a worried hug and calling out, "Oh no! Mori-chan's sick!" Izumo jumped over and placed a hand on the bright red Moriko, as if checking for a fever.

"You are a little warm there, Moriko-chan."

Moriko snarled at the two and looked at Kumori who was grinning widely from beside Izumo. "Bite them!" she commanded.

Kumori ignored her in favor of receiving an ear rub from Izumo. Moriko pouted and glared at the dog, barking out, "Traitorous, oversized mutt!"

Izumo laughed as Kumori simply wagged his tail. Kotetsu crowed happily in triumph, "Bwaha! We've managed to turn a ninken against his partner! We are officially 'Team Badass'!"

Moriko struggled against Kotetsu's hug and scowled, "Well then, tweedle-dee of team dumbass, let me go already!"

Kotetsu complied, releasing Moriko and then bowing Mockingly, "As you wish, Moriko-hime."

Moriko crossed her arms and glared at her ex-teammates, "What the hell have you two been putting in your coffee?"

Izumo tapped his chin in thought, "I'm not sure, but it may very well be illegal in Konoha." Moriko sighed in exasperation and Tetsu giggled. Izumo dropped a wink at Tetsu and ducked when Moriko threw a gentle punch his way.

Moriko crossed her an arm across her chest and used it to support the elbow of the other arm which's hand was currently rubbing the bridge of her nose. She grumbled a bit and Izumo introduced himself and Kotetsu to Tetsu and sent Moriko an amused look, "We were on the same team since we were genin and got split up when we were, what? Sixteen was it? We still hang out all the time."

Moriko snorted, "Meaning they like to mooch dinner from me because they can't cook,"

"You never complain about feeding us or Kakashi or Mai." Izumo retorted and turned back to Tetsu while Moriko rolled her eyes, "Anyways, I expect she didn't even realize we were here because we're always somewhere nearby in Konoha."

Moriko ran an irritated hand through her hair, "I still should have sensed you. Hell, I should have been extra sensitive to you, not less so."

Tetsu tried hard to suppress a laugh as Moriko pouted once again. As she leaned against the tree trunk and covered her mouth with a hand she said, "Sorry, Moriko, I shoudn't have said anything—"

"Of course you should have!" Kotetsu said, effectively cutting her off, "Never, ever hesitate to point out a mistake Moriko makes, that's what—" he was cut off by a deft whack to the back of he head by Moriko, knocking him off the branch and making him yell out curses as he fell several yards through the branches.

"By the way," Tetsu said, watching as Kotetsu made his way back up to the canopy and positioned himself well out of Moriko's strike range. "I'm Yoshinda Tetstu, and I'm a new tokubetsu jounin."

Moriko grinned as her teammates pouted a bit after the younger woman revealed herself to be of a higher rank than them. A sudden thought hit her and she asked, "So, who did you two piss off this time to get sent out on patrol?"

The two chunnin sputtered, looking embarrassed and muttering something, as one, under their breaths.

Moriko's grin widened to a true 'cat that ate the canary' grin and she asked sweetly, "I'm sorry, could you two repeat that? Even with enhanced hearing, I cannot understand you if you mumble."

Kotetsu coughed and Izumo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "We, uh, we accidentally knocked a couple of council members into the mud when it rained last week."

Moriko let out a bark of laughter. "How did you managed to knock those old bats into the mud? Or better question, how'd you make it look like an accident?"

The two men exchanged glances and adopted haughty looks, "That is out secret."

Moriko was still grinning, "Did you just trip and knock into them or something?"

More glances were exchanged and Moriko could practically hear their internal voices saying, "Damn!"

Letting the topic drop she draped an arm over Izumo's shoulder, somewhat awkwardly given the difference in height, and said, "Now, Tetsu and I are here to relieve Haruki and Hotaka, so that they may go back to the comforts of warm baths and roofs. Where'd you guys set up base camp so we can drop out things before we go find them?"

The two shinobi being relieved, another pair of chunnin, looked very happy to be heading back to Konoha. Moriko decided it was only partially because of the days off that followed the B ranked mission and the return to real food, beds, and baths. The other part of their gleeful and rapid escape was because of her two ex-teammates.

"What the hell did you do to Haruki and Hotaka, you bakas!" Moriko snapped at the two men, sending glares as they looked a bit sheepish.

"Nothing!" They both protested, but Moriko merely raised an eyebrow and turned to Tetsu.

"Ready to get your feet wet?" She asked.

Tetsu had just taken a seat on a rock that circled the conceiled firepit and groaned a bit at the question, but lurched to her feet anyways. "Right, what're we doing?"

"Well, you and me are going to go skim the boarder and get you used to the semi random paths we take and to give you a visual of the boarder between countries." Moriko said. She'd dropped her pack in the shade of a tree and it nearly disappeared into the undergrowth thanks to the dull, splotchy green-gray-brown it was colored with and Tetsu followed suit, leaving her pack in a conceiled place where it wouldn't be spotted easily.

As they jumped up onto the 'ninja highway' of the tree canopies, Tetsu glanced back and noticed that the camp couldn't be seen without knowing what to look for. She gave a low whistle of appreciation at the sight and Moriko flashed her a small smile.

"It still sometimes amazes me at how good some of our Shinobi are at camouflaging camps. Me, when I don't have to I don't make one." She said and gave a shrug, "But I'm a bit more canine than everyone else, so go figure."

-

**End Note**: Some more Inuzuka moments for everyone, I love writing them all, Kiba's so….kiddish. I just want to hug him for being cute.  Say 'hello' to Tetsu, a truly awesome OC owned by one of my closest friends. You'll be seeing plenty of her in coming chapters as she becomes one of Moriko's closest friends. She's quite fun to write and I always have an excuse to bug my friend about "What would she do?" Obviously I BS-ed all I could about how boarder patrols are done, so don't yell at me if you think its stupid, I'm just speculating. Onward to next chapter!

**Word Count**: 37,401/50,000

**-Greygryph**


	14. Chapter 14

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 14**

Moriko easily led them to the boarder, knowing it simply because of the feel of years worth of chakra residue built up on either side of it. Kumori was close on her heels, ears and nose poised and ready as they paused at a good vantage point.

"Now," she began and pointed out over the forest. "Despite it being called grass country, there is actually quite a bit of wooded area to the country, which is why there isn't this big, obvious change from forest to grassland. The grasslands start about three miles away from here, but this is the boarder. I kinda luck out and I have a cheat sheet because I can just follow the residue of past patrols without giving it much thought. You, on the other hand, I'm sorry to say, will be memorizing the boarder from sight." Moriko was a bit impressed with Tetsu didn't pout at that, she merely nodded. She jerked her head towards the boarder proper and said, "Follow me and I'll point out the landmarks others tend to use."

Moriko lead Tetsu through their stretch of the boarder and taught her the landmarks and subtle markings years of patrols had used and left on the land. As they continued on she found herself very appreciative of the fact that Tetsu had an excellent memory for details. Moriko even stopped and showed Tetsu her personal favorite tree on the route, which had an entire conversation carved into it using shinobi symbols.

It started out with: "Beware the evil bitch", followed by "And the deadly dunce duo" and then an entire back and forth banter contest insulting the very air all the writers breathed and ended with, "And the irritated sensei who warned his students to quit leaving traces behind" followed by three "sorry"s in a row.

Tetsu snorted at the conversation and Moriko merely grinned, "Sensei wasn't too pleased at our now permanent mark on the land."

Tetsu's eyes shot to Moriko and she said, "Wait. You and your team?"

Moriko rolled her eyes, "Who else do you think the 'deadly dunce duo' would refer to?"

"That would make you 'evil bitch' then?"

"In the flesh but in the wrong skin, my dear Tetsu." Moriko said cryptically and sent the nineteen year old a wide, fanged, grin.

They completed a sweep of the boarder with Moriko taking note of the freshness of the trails of the grass nin patrols not too far away. They returned to camp and as the two chunnin men sat out to do their own random sweep, both women grinned, and saluted them.

"Hail the deadly dunce duo!" both of them crowed out. Izumo and Kotetsu facefaulted and glared at them.

"Evil bitch and…" Kotetsu trailed off and glanced over at Izumo, "we need to come up with a name for Tetsu."

Izumo and he sent the special jounin in question an evil grin that made her feel a bit nervous.

"Don't worry too much, they couldn't come up with anything better than 'evil bitch' for me. It won't be too bad." Moriko said, giving her ex-teammates a dismissing wave.

Kotetsu pouted and pointed a finger at Moriko accusingly, "Hey, it has a dual meaning!"

Moriko smiled sweetly back and said, "I have alliteration."

Kotetsu shook his fist comically and followed Izumo away from camp, "Cure you and your poetic tools of death and destruction!" Moriko waved them off sweetly and then turned to Tetsu.

"Go ahead and rest your feet for a bit," She said and sat with her back against a tree. Kumori flopped down happily next to her and she tangled her fingers in his thick fur. "So any questions yet?"

"Besides all the cryptic statements you and your teammates seem to say about your jutsu." Tetsu said, taking a seat on a log and leaning against her own tree. Moriko grinned sheepishly at Tetsu's bland tone and raised brow.

"Ma, I guess I could tell you about it, because its likely you won't see it while were out here." Moriko said and folded her fingers together and stretching her arms upwards until her back popped satisfyingly. "Well, basically, due to a stupid accident involving techniques I later found out were banned, I can turn, physically, into a dog."

Tetsu stared at her in disbelief. "Right…" she said, voice skeptical and Moriko shrugged.

"I could explain it exactly but its way too complicated and I don't exactly feel like spending three hours going into detail, so just trust me. I'd show you but it hurts and I can't change back immediately." Moriko shrugged again and glanced up at the sky. "I'm going to go get dinner started. You can relax, just keep an eye on the camp."

Moriko hoisted herself to her feet, nodded to Kumori and the two of them slunk off into the woods, disappearing with obvious predatory grace.

That night, dinner was filled with banter as Izumo and Kotetsu tried to find a nickname to fit the new special jounin. It was quickly broken by a quick round of the common shinobi game: who's scar is the worst.

The boys each had some nasty scars across their chests from blades, which Moriko easily beat with a scar along her collarbone. She'd gotten it on the same mission her and her team had carved the conversation into a tree. It was one of the few patrols that had combat with shinobi trying to sneak across the boarder. She'd been in canine form and had been lunging for the throat of a chunnin trying to skewer Kotetsu while he had his hands full with another invading nin. The chunnin had nearly slit her throat, but Moriko had reared back at the last second, letting the slash land across her chest, a scant inch below her throat.

Moriko's blaring reminder of her near death experience, however, paled in comparison to Tetsu's own. The new jounin had lifted up the edge of her shirt and showed a not quite straight scar on her side. "I lost a kidney to the black market." She said and hadn't said anything else. Izumo and Kotetsu had each tried to get more information out of Tetsu but Moriko's glare shut them up.

Soon afterwards Moriko announced she was going to go be lookout, and slipped out of camp, finding a tall tree to perch in and letting her chakra senses stretch out to their limits.

Moriko had always found moments like this the most relaxing. She could follow the movements of various animals in the woods and feel her teammates still sitting around camp. She closed her eyes and again concentrated on the feeling of faint chakra signatures of the forest and animals.

The following week passed without issue and Moriko noticed how well Tetsu was adapting to boarder patrol. She remembered her own first time on patrol and how she'd nearly forgotten that she was posted on a potentially hostile boarder.

The morning Izumo and Kotetsu's replacements were due in, the group drew straws. Moriko drew camp guard while Tetsu ran close boarder scout. Izumo and Kotetsu fell back, to meet their replacements.

Moriko was sitting atop her favorite base camp lookout when she felt Tetsu's chakra flare on the edge of her normal senses. She extended them out further and found Tetsu's signature racing to cut off four foreign signatures.

She swore and leapt from her perch, calling out, "Kumori!" as she landed on the ground, already running. She oriented herself towards Tetsu's location and gathered chakra, sending up a distress flare jutsu as she bolted through the forest towards Tetsu. She melted into the woods as she began prepairing herself for a fight.

As she neared her senses sharpened. She picked up a second signature that felt like a second weaker Tetsu facing off with four shinobi.

Gathering chakra, she flashed through familiar hand seals and muttered, "Mugen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutus" and then flew through a few more seals. "Bunshin no jutsu." She whispered and allowed the bunshin to take her place while she slid behind her illusion and began focusing as much as she could while she continued to run and felt her body transform.

It was difficult to keep running while she changed, but she had enough experience now that she could control the transformation somewhat and timed it so that she went from leaping through the forest floor on two legs to bounding through it on four legs.

Quickly regaining any momentum that had been lost during the transformation, the now canine Moriko found Kumori racing along by her flank.

She caught sight of her teammate as Tetsu's bunshin was destroyed. Bunshin Moriko burst into the clearing as Kumori darted around canine Moriko and launched himself onto the arms of one of the nins, crushing down then releasing and dodging back, dodging a kunai and falling back beside Bunshin Moriko.

Before the injured nin, whom Moriko identified as a rock nin, could drop back with his crushed arm, Inu-Moriko slipped in behind him and snapped her jaws. The man, whom had managed to hold back a scream when Kumori had injured him, lost all composure when the hidden Inu-Moriko hamstrung him. Before the man's teammates could pinpoint her location, she leapt away and circled around. While the other nins were searching for what had hurt their downed teammate, Kumori darted in and tore the man's throat out.

As Kumori dodged away Moriko picked out her next target.

"You didn't honestly think that was all I had, did you?" Tetsu asked sweetly and her ninjaken sparked. Her opponent winced as he was shocked and Tetsu stabbed the man in the shoulder while his guard was down. "I was just holding you in this position until backup arrived." she said and released a bit of additional electricity while the blade was still in the man's shoulder. The man dropped to the ground, his heart stopped by the jolt of electricity.

While she turned to face the remaining opponents, Tetsu flung a kunai at one of the men and made him dodge right into Kumori's waiting jaws. The charcoal dog snarled and latched onto the man's leg and holding him still while Tetsu darted in and tapped the man smartly with the butt of her blade to the hinge of his jaws.

While Kumori helped Tetsu knock the third shinobi Moriko leapt at the final nin's exposed back and latched onto his neck from behind. As the man fell forward from the extra weight, Moriko shook her head visciously, not only snapping the man's neck, but tearing his jugular as well.

Moriko released her jaws and checked the surroundings for any hidden shinobi. She heard Tetsu call out, "Yo! Moriko!" but ignored it. Once she was sure no more earth nin were hiding in the forest she dropped her genjutsu and released her hold on her Bunshin, causing the surroundings to flicker and fade away in a slight haze of smoke.

Moriko turned to Tetsu as she asked, "Uhh, Moriko?" Unable to resist herself, she and Kumori put on their best innocent faces. Finally Moriko stepped forward and grinned, "Yo."

Tetsu gave her an odd look and Moriko remember that her voice was much deeper and more guttural.

Moriko glanced at the two men Tetsu had put down and said, "Nice work on them." She shook herself to try and rid herself of the tingling that always signified one of her more rapid transformations. "Ugh. I won't be human again any time soon. Plus I lost my clothes on the way in." She perked her ears towards Konoha proper and continued, "Someone should be here soon to help us out anyways, I sent off a flare jutsu before I came here." Her nose quivered and she caught the scent of Tetsu's blood and spotted a gash on the woman's leg. "You okay?"

"I think so," Tetsu replied, taking a closer look at the gash. She swayed on her feet and then sat down hard, muttering, "On second thought…I may have lost a bit more blood than I originally though." She swayed a bit more and swore, "Ah hell." As the adrenaline wore off and her head started throbbing. "Excuse me," she slurred, "I'm going to pass out now." Moriko swore as Tetsu's eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped back.

Kumori was behind her before she could hit her head on the ground and allowed the kunoichi's head to hit the ground much lighter than before.

Moriko sighed and muttered, "Wonderful," before glancing at the four Earth shinobi, three dead, and one unconscious. The three dead men only needed to be burned and their forehead protectors collected, but the unconscious one would be carted back to Konoha to…entertain the shinobi at the interrogation headquarters. Nodding at the unconscious nin, she told Kumori, "Watch him."

Moriko approached Tetsu's unconscious form and eyed the gash in her leg with worry. Closing her eyes she focused on molding her chakra into one of the healing jutsus she learned during the construction of her jutsu. She placed her forepaws on either side of the gash and pushed the green chakra she gathered into the wound, making sure to stop the bleeding first before she began knitting the worst of the wound back together.

When Moriko was sure Tetsu was out of danger she canceled the jutsu and nosed out a role of bandages from Tetsu's utility pouch. Using her paws and her teeth she bandaged the much shallower wound as best she could and then jerked her head up as she felt a pair of chakra signatures dash into her sensory range, one after the other.

She ran straight up the nearest tree directly in the path of the approaching signatures.

Once she was sure they were within earshot, Moriko barked out, "This is Konoha boarder patrol. Identify yourselves!"

The two figures came to a hault within her sight and one called out, "Konoha ANBU Hunter-nins, we saw an alarm flare jutsu." Moriko concentrated on their signatures and picked up the familiar 'tag' of a Konoha nin. Their scents also seemed familiar, so Moriko stepped out from where she was hiding in the thick branches of her tree.

"Good, I've got one unconscious stone-nin and three more dead ones. The second half of our patrol hasn't shown up yet and my partner's injured." Moriko said and jumped down the tree, leading the two masked hunter nins to where Kumori was standing guard over the unconscious rock nin.

"We'll take care of the stone nins…it's Inuzuka-san, right? Inuzuka Moriko?" One of the ANBU asked and Moriko nodded, ""Do you need help getting your partner back to your camp?"

Moriko shook her head, "Just help me get her on my back and I'll be fine. Send my regards to Ibiki-san and the other interrogators, and if you spot the replacement patrol group on your way back, tell them to hurry the hell up."

The ANBU who'd identified her helped to load Tetsu on Moriko's back and she nodded to the two masked men. Kumori pressed himself against Moriko to help her keep Tetsu balanced on her back and the two canines slowly made their way back to camp. On the way, Kumori picked up Moriko's scattered clothes. As she eyed the clothes in

Kumori's mouth and sighed, hopefully she'd be able to change back in the morning.

When she reached the camp Kumori helped her get Tetsu into her bedroll and then Moriko took up her post above the camp and soon found two new signatures approaching. These she instantly recognized the two signatures as they drew nearer.

"Oi! Genma-san! I didn't know you were still on the roster for boarder patrol!" she called as the shinobi drew within earshot.

"Hey, Moriko-san. Yeah, I don't head out too often though, I signed on to come check on my old student. Iruka and I ran into Hunter nins on our way in here. They said you and Tetsu ran into trouble."

Moriko snorted and jumped down to meet him and his partner for the mission, whom Moriko recognized almost instantly as her youngest cousin's academy teacher. "A squad of Iwa nin tried to get across the boarder when Izumo and Kotetsu went to find you two. Tetsu ended up loosing enough blood to pass out, but I was able to patch up the wound some. I'm kinda limited on jutsus when I can't make hand signs."

Genma had already known about Moriko's jutsu and its limitations and nodded his head in understanding. Iruka looked somewhat confused though so Moriko sent him a sheepish canine grin, and led them the short distance to the base camp where Kumori was still guarding Tetsu's unconscious form. Genma headed over to check on his old student and Moriko turned to Iruka.

"Sorry, I'm Inuzuka Moriko." She said and bobbed her head in a imitation of a bow.

Iruka bowed back and said, "Umino Iruka. You're Kiba-kun's cousin, right?" he asked.

Moriko rolled her eyes fondly, "Yeah, I grew up babysitting Kiba and his sister, Hana. Luckily Hana's only slightly less of a handful than Kiba is or I wouldn't have survived the experience. You're his academy teacher right?"

Iruka nodded and sagged a bit, "I feel bad saying it, but I'm very glad its break."

Moriko barked out a laugh, "Its understandable, I don't know how well I'd be able to keep up with a class of shinobi-in-training for most of the year."

Iruka smiled, "It's difficult at times, but well worth it." He watched Moriko for a moment and asked, "So, is this a genjutsu or Inuzuka technique I've never heard of?"

Moriko sighed a bit, "Ah, no. This is real, and I'm the only Inuzuka who can do this."

Iruka looked intrigued, "Is it a Limit to your Bloodline?"

Moriko cocked her head, considering the idea then said, "I don't think so, because I had to screw up creating a jutsu to end up like this. It could end up being something like a Bloodline limit, but I'm not sure if its passed on genetically or anything, and I sure as hell don't want to put anyone else through the hell of performing it." At Iruka's confused look she clearified, "I literally augmented myself on a cellular level. It hurts like hell, and I've joined a lovely statistic of people who've survived having that done, bringing the count up to two."

Iruka winced and Moriko glanced out towards the boarder. "I'm going to make another sweep of the boarder and make sure nobody else has tried to sneak in while we were busy." She said, making sure both Iruka and Genma had heard it before slipping away from camp and ghosting through the forest floor, searching for fresh chakra signatures.

That evening Tetsu stirred, and groaned as she woke. Informing Genma, who'd just come back from his patrol of the boarder, and Moriko that she was in pain. What sort of pain became evident when she sat up and, without opening her eyes, massaging her temples.

Genma dug into his utility pouch and pulled out the small plastic bottle that no shinobi ever went without: a bottle of aspirin. He pulled the cotton ball out that kept the pills from making noise in their plastic home and shook a pair into his hand and offering them to the still grumbling kunoichi, who was probably completely unaware of their presence. "Here, have a couple of aspirin." He said and the kunoichi took them without question.

A muttered, "Thanks, Genma-sensei," was heard before Tetsu's eyes snapped open and focused on the jounin crouching next to her, "Genma-sensei! What are you doing here?"

Genma adopted a slight smirk and said, "Just checking up on my favorite new tokubetsu jounin." How he managed to speak around the senbon needle in his mouth had always been beyond Moriko, but the kunoichi in canine form barked out laughter when the older man patted Tetsu on the head.

Tetsu scowled at the man and then over at the still grinning Moriko and said, in her best haughty holier-than-thou voice, "I'm doing fine, thank you very much!" while turning up her nose at the two for a moment.

Genma didn't say anything, but raised an eyebrow and gave Tetsu's bandaged leg a pointed look.

Tetsu adopted an embarrassed, sheepish look and scratched the back of her head, "Uhh…you should see the other guys?" her tone was unsure and carried a hint of the woman's embarrassment.

It also managed to coax a small smile onto Genma's face, which had gone stern when he'd turned his old student's attention to her injuries.

"Way to use one of the biggest clichés in the world." Moriko said teasingly and Tetsu stuck out her tongue childishly at her.

"Well I can never used the 'Knife fight' explanation for any of my scars because it's always true, and it doesn't work!" Tetsu said with a pout and Moriko cocked her head a moment.

"Touche." The dog said.

Tetsu was silent a moment and then spoke up, "Ano, Moriko? What happened to those four stone-nin?"

Moriko sent the woman an amused look that could be roughly translated to, 'And you're just now remembering about those four possible threats?' Aloud she said, "Three were dead, and you knocked the last one out. Hunter nin came and took care of all of them."

"Ahh," Tetsu said with a slow nod, then turned back to her old sensei, "So, you're on duty with us for the next week, Genma-sensei?"

"Me and Iruka," Genma said with a nod, "He's out on scout duty right now though, and you were obviously still out when we got here. You'll get to say 'hello' to him when he gets back."

Tetsu nodded and took a moment to gently unwrap her wound and examine the healing gash. She winced when she pulled off a gauze pad that had been stuck to the skin by an antibiotic ointment Genma had applied to the wound the night before. Tetsu gave a low impressed whistle, "Wow, who used the healing jutsu?"

"Guilty." Moriko said, "Sorry I couldn't finish the job up, it's a bit hard to do without handseals, or hands for that matter." Moriko stood up and cast a glance over at Kumori, who was still sprawled on Moriko's unrolled, but unused bedroll, "I'm going to go run a sweep, I'll tell Iruka you're up when I see him." Moriko said and she and Kumori set out from camp.

They found Iruka easily enough and informed him that she was heading a bit closer to the boarder than they'd been going recently, because of their injured member. Moriko wanted to check to see if any fresh chakra trails were there from foreign shinobi trying to gather information on patrols.

Iruka frowned a bit and Moriko felt something shift in her stomach strangely, "Be careful, okay?" he said, obviously worried about the risk she was putting herself in.

Moriko gave him a reassuring smile, "I'll be careful and I'll know if anyone's coming long before they know I'm there." She and Kumori slipped once more into the forest, once again avoiding the treetops where they would be much easier to spot, flitting from branch to branch.

She didn't feel or see any chakra signatures at all, save for the slowly fading ones of the four Iwa nin who'd tried to cross the day before. When she extended her chakra senses she couldn't even sense anyone other than her team and some animals. 'Good' she thought trotting along their stretch of boarder once more to be sure before heading back to camp. 'I really don't want to deal with another fight so soon.'

-

**End Note**: Some combat for the girls and more characters to play with. Huzzah Iruka and his overprotective nature. Mmkay, not much else to add here…

**Word Count**: 41,374 / 50,000

**-Greygryph**


	15. Chapter 15

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 15**

Moriko returned to camp just before dawn, ready to sleep. Everyone in camp was already awake, and Genma was prepairing to head out to scout when Moriko returned to camp. The smell of sausage made Moriko's mouth water and she silently thanked Kami for the fresh supplies the two men had brought with them to the boarder.

When Tetsu noticed Moriko's hungry eyes watching the food that was being distributed for breakfast and said, "No beg, Moriko," with a wide grin.

Moriko rolled her eyes and said, "Very funny," in a dry voice but accepted the sausages she passed her and Kumori happily. Her tail wagged of its own accord as she ate and then curled up where she was, not willing to use the energy it took to walk over to her rolled out bed roll to sleep.

There were smiles sent her way before Genma and Iruka headed out to act as sentries and scouts while Moriko took a break. Tetsu was to be the camp's guard while she was recovering so Moriko had no qualms letting herself completely relax and nearly fall asleep instantly.

Tetsu's voice roused her before she could actually drift off when she asked, "How much longer do you need to stay like that?" she asked and Moriko opened one eye at the woman before letting her focus waver as she checked on the condition of stress levels in her cells.

"Another few hours." She finally concluded and eyed Tetsu's bandaged leg, "How's the leg?"

Tetsu flexed the limb in question and said, "It's fine. A bit stiff and achy, but that's sort of expected isn't it? I should be good to help scout tomorrow morning." Tetsu paused and said, "I'll be fine as long as there's no more attacks."

Moriko nodded her head slowly and found herself drifting off to sleep.

When she woke up several hours later she found Tetsu doing some streatches across camp and did a few of her own to wake herself up. She shook herself thoroughly and hears a slight giggle from Tetsu as she nearly fell forward as her legs splayed with the vigorous motion.

Moriko gave the woman an embarrassed smile and zoned off for a bit, testing her cellular stress levels and finding them to be low enough for her to change back. When she snapped back to reality she grinned and headed for her bag.

She dug out fresh clothing and managed to create a bundle with it. Before she picked them up, she told Kumori to stay put using no words, only a few subtle movements and eye flicks then looked over her shoulder at Tetsu, "I'm going to go change back, Kumori's staying here with you. I'll see you in a few minutes." She said and picked up her clothes in her mouth before trotting off into the woods.

Once she was a good distance from camp she dropped her clothes and focused, being sure to go slow enough that she would be able to transform again by the end of the day. The familiar whole body ache filled all her senses and she bad a complete sensory blackout as she shifted from her canine form to her human form.

The sensory blackout was the only part of the transformation she could never get used to. It was especially bad in slower shifts, where it lasted more than a few seconds. The disorientation lingered for a while after she finished transforming as her body remembered how it worked in either form.

With the disorientation and distraction she hadn't heard, smelt or sensed anyone approaching so it was a great surprise to turn and spot a bright red Iruka who'd frozen a moment earlier when he nearly ran right into a now human Moriko.

The petit woman had frozen in shock momentairily before automatically reacting by grabbing her clothes from the ground next to her, trying to cover herself up (while turning a brilliant shade of red), and screaming, "Pervert!" while whacking Iruka on the head.

Iruka came to his senses when Moriko gave him a sharp rap on the skull and turned around, trying to think of anything to say, but his brain wasn't functioning very well at the moment. There was a bit of rustling and when Iruka glanced back hesitantly, Moriko was gone.

The chunnin dazedly made his way back to the camp, face still red and a new lump showing on his head.

When Moriko stalked back into camp, face still a matching shade of red to the fang markings on her cheeks. Her glare fixed itself on Iruka, "Iruka-san…" she growled out, although the threat was somewhat nullified by the slight undertone of embarrassment the growl held. Iruka still gulped and took a step away from the special jounin, holding his hands out in front of him in a defensive gesture.

"Ano," he began nervously, his own face burning, "I didn't mean to! I swear!" he stuttered out, still backing away from Moriko.

Kumori appeared before Moriko and grinned up at her, "Oh, don't be so hard on him, Moriko." The dog said, casting a glance over his shoulder at Iruka, "You know you think he's cute."

Moriko's glare instantly dropped to her dog, and, if at all possible, she blushed darker. "Kumori…" she said, voice a bit strained, but still carrying the same threatening tone she'd used on Iruka.

The hybrid was apparently not finished yet, though, "You know, he'd make a good mate." Moriko now looked completely and utterly embarrassed and everyone else in the camp wondered what the hell the dog was barking at the tiny Inuzuka. Kumori cocked his head at Moriko's blazing red face, "You know, you're going to have an aneurism if you keep on blushing like that. That would be a shame too, because you haven't even had a chance to kiss him yet." The dog lept out of the way as a kunai was thrown at him. The attempted attack didn't dampen the canine's spirits at all and he continued grinning widely at Moriko before standing beside a nervous looking Iruka. The man sent the dog cautious looks and Kumori wagged his tail happily at the man. He liked Iruka, and thought he'd be good for Moriko.

Moriko fought, and failed, to dispel the blush covering her face and finally gave up, muttering, "I'm going to watch the boarder." And without another word, turned and left the camp, avoiding looking at either the widely grinning Kumori or the nervous and still red Iruka as she left.

After she left, Tetsu stifled a small snicker at the obvious embarrassment her partner had been radiating moments earlier. She'd never seen anyone be so embarrassed before, and, she reasoned, it was possibly the only reason why Iruka was still mostly unharmed and not a bloody pulp. Said chunin slumped onto one of the logs surrounding the fire pit, which had only a small fire burning at the time.

"I didn't know you were a closet-hentai, Iruka-sempai." Tetsu said, voice obviously teasing. Even she couldn't resist the urge to tease the chunin. Iruka was such a sweet guy, and obviously not the closet pervert type. Judging, however, by the bewildered and strained look on his face, he didn't need any teasing.

"Mou, Iruka-sempai, don't worry about Moriko, she'd just embarrassed. Giver her some time to blow off a little steam." She said and gave the man a comforting pat on the arm.

The man froze a second and rubbed his face vigorously and heaved a sigh standing and saying, "I'm going to go find Moriko-san and apologize," Tetsu frowned and stood, grabbing his arm.

"Did you hear anything I just said, Iruka-sempai?" Tetsu asked, voice worried, "Give her time before you go find her, okay? At the very least wait until Genma-sensei comes back to camp." She said, voice pleading. She didn't want to risk the possibility that Moriko would not be too happy to see Iruka so soon. Moriko may have been embarrassed out of bashing the man's head in earlier, but once the shock went away, she was still an Inuzuka, even if she was the quietest one Tetsu had ever met before. Iruka hesitated and then sat down again, resigning herself to waiting.

Searching for a distraction, the chunin eyed Tetsu's still bandaged leg and asked, "How's the leg, Tetsu?"

It was almost an hour later when Moriko sensed a chakra signature approaching. After she'd escaped from camp to cool off she'd claimed her favorite high perch. Sitting high above the normal tree canopies, she strained her eyes trying to find any movement in the distance and scented the breeze blowing in her face every once in a while.

She resisted all her urges to swear, but instead slumped a bit and thought to herself, 'Great, just great. Exactly who I don't want to talk with just yet.'

"Ah, Moriko-san?" Iruka called nervously from the tree behind her.

"Hai." Moriko said and turned to look at him. She noticed that he was shifting very nervously, and his face was a bit pink.

As she watched him he suddenly burst out with, "I'm really sorry about that Moriko-san!" he gave a deep bow, "I didn't mean to! I just…didn't know you were there."

Moriko felt a bit of heat rise to her face and she shifted on her perch, "It's okay." She said, not quite able to meet his eyes without feeling blood rushing to her cheeks. "You didn't know I was there. Hell, I didn't know you were there. I just turned around and there you were, before I could even sense you." She said and realized belatedly that she was babbling and ran a nervous hand through her hair, "It was an honest accident." She finally met his eyes for a moment and noticed the lump she'd made, still blaringly visible on his head. She shrunk a bit ashamedly and muttered, "Sorry for hitting you so hard."

Iruka rubbed said lump a bit and said, "Ah, that's okay." And both of them fell silent for long pause of awkward silence, "So, all's forgiven?" he asked hopefully.

Moriko nodded, "All's forgiven." She confirmed.

"Friends?" He asked, wide smile on his face.

Moriko felt her stomach twist and jump in an only vaguely familiar way. She ignored the feeling and made room on the thick branch she liked to use as a lookout post.

When Iruka made the small jump over to the branch she held out her hand, when Iruka took it she said, "Friends."

Both of them had a light blush on their faces while they shook hands.

After they both dropped their hands, he hesitated a bit and said, "Ah, I have a question, Moriko-san."

"It's just 'Moriko,' and go ahead." The Inuzuka said with a stubborn nod.

"You sense chakra signatures, right?" Iruka asked and Moriko nodded, "Then how did you not know I was coming?" he asked, his blush darkening a bit.

Moriko's blush mirrored his as the day's earlier incident was brought up again, "Ah," she started, "When I'm switching forms I go though a sensory blackout while my body switches from canine to human. After I finish swapping I'm generally a bit disoriented, so I'm mostly blind to chakra." She was a bit embarrassed to mention the major drawbacks to her jutsu or the period of weakness she went through while transforming. She'd been fine during her rapid transformation as she'd been too focused on continuing running without tripping forward to pay any attention to the fluctuation of her senses besides the obvious switch from color vision to black and white.

Iruka nodded, the simple explanation made sense. Since even before he'd been an academy teacher, he'd enjoyed picking apart jutsus. He shook his head a bit and chided himself, he was supposed to be on patrol! And speaking of patrols, "Oh, Genma said he'd be out to relieve you in about two hours. I'm going on active patrol now. I'll see you later, Moriko." Iruka gave a sheepish smile, embarrassed that he'd almost forgotten what his mission was then.

Moriko nodded and smiled, "I'll see you later, Iruka. Thanks for telling me." Iruka grinned and rubbed the bridge of his nose in embarrassment before leapt away, off the branch and headed in the direction of the edge of their assigned patrol area.

Without making any active decision to, Moriko focused her chakra senses to follow the chunin along the boarder to the extent of her senses. As she did so, she found that the embarrassment that had been simmering in the nervous twisting of her stomach and still burning face that vanished. She was a bit shocked at that, as she'd been expecting the moodiness to last quite a while. While Moriko's temper took quite a bit of harassment to wake, but once it was, it took a long time for it to wear itself out. "I feel better." She mused and shook her head in slight disbelief.

Her improved mood was apparently very noticeable because, after Genma came to relieve her and she returned to camp, Tetsu gave her a grin, "Moriko? Did Iruka find you?" she asked, already guessing the answer.

Moriko gave the grinning woman an eye roll, "He did." She said, sitting down by the fire and poking at the embers with the long stick they'd been using as a poker. "I've forgiven him, the whole thing was a coincidence." Kumori sprawled next to her and laid his head on her lap, giving her his best 'I love you!' eyes

Moriko rolled her eyes at the dog and said, "You on the other hand…" she trailed off and gave a mock glare, "Some loyal ninken you are. This is the second time in one mission."

Kumori whined pitifully, kicked the 'sad-puppy-dog eyes' up a notch, and let his ears drooping. Eventually, however, Moriko sighed and rubbed the giant dog's ears, "You traitorous dork." She accused, although her voice had no real heat to it.

Tetsu giggled and nodded her head approvingly, "I'm glad you and Iruka made up. He's a really nice guy, it would have been a shame if you two had gotten off on the wrong foot." Tetsu leaned back against the tree and frowned in thought, she looked over at Moriko and asked, "So…what do you want for dinner?" she looked over at their supplies and glanced in the direction of the small stream that their camp was near. "Do you want fish, or…fish?"

Moriko laughed and looked at Kumori, "We'll catch something. Do we still have some potatoes?" When Tetsu nodded she stood, " I've got a pot sealed in a supplies scroll in my bag, clean some of the potatoes, cut them up and toss them in there with a bit of water, I'll gab some seasoning herbs while I'm out. We'll have a stew tonight."

Tetsu grinned and snapped Moriko a salute, "Hai, Moriko-san!" Moriko sent the kunoichi a mock glare before she followed Kumori away from camp.

Moriko and Kumori caught a pair of rabbits, and Moriko found some herbs she recognized. As the two reentered camp, Moriko hefted the rabbits up and said, "I honestly think I end up hunting rabbits on missions more than anything else." She shook her head and settled beside Tetsu to help her make a hearty rabbit stew.

The final two members of their patrol wandered in as it was finishing up. Both of them paused as they entered and sniffed the air dramatically.

"Mmm," Genma said and dropped onto one of the log seats around the fire with Iruka not far behind, "That smells really good there, what're we having?"

"Rabbit stew." Tetsu said and pulled out the groups travel bowls and started scooping the stew in to each of them and passed them around the circle of shinobi. "It was Moriko's idea."

"Smells great." Iruka said and flashed Moriko a smile, Tetsu could have sworn Moriko's cheeks turned a bit pink, before accepting a spoon and shoveling a large spoonful into his mouth, his eyebrows shot up and he said. "It tastes great!" he managed to say around a mouthful of stew, even as he fanned his mouth, "Its hot though." Laughter erupted around the campsite as Iruka swallowed hastily and gulped down water.

Dinner passed mostly uneventfully, filled with lots of laughter and stories. Moriko found herself truly relaxing, even as half of her mind, mainly the Inu-Moriko part, kept an eye (figuratively speaking) on the boarder before she headed out to her post and acted as scout for the first half of the night.

Tetsu was back in rotation the following morning, which allowed the other three members of the team more oppourtunities to rest and allowed them to pair up once more in their patrols.

During the end of their last weak on patrol, Tetsu and Moriko's friendship solidified even more now that they had successfully defended themselves from an attack and proven that they could almost seamlessly work together. The two kunoichi began trading lessons back and forth. Moriko taught the younger woman more about tracking than had ever been covered in academy and during her genin and chunin years. Moriko had shrugged, "Most people depend on specialized trackers and don't put much effort into learning more than the basics. Truth is, knowing how to track people makes it easier for you to avoid being tracked yourself. Truth is, you're already ahead of normal shinobi who don't specialize in it." Tetsu had grinned and said that Genma had covered a bit of additional tracking in his lessons, but nothing near what Moriko had shown her. "Good for him." Moriko had said with a nod of approval.

Tetsu had repaid Moriko's lessons with a few of her own including some new tricks and strikes with kunai knives. She offered to teach Moriko a bit of blade work, but the Inuzuka had laughed and explained her lack of success with any weapon other than the basic shinobi tools. So, instead, Tetsu worked with her on taijutsu, showing her some moves she'd picked up over the years she traveled, which Moriko took to like a fish to water.

Moriko had also found that her friendship with Iruka was quickly solidifying. The two of them would talk mostly of jutsu theories and the techniques behind the synthesizing of jutsus, much to the confusion and amusement of Tetsu and Genma.

"So what?" Moriko had said, mouth quirking into a tiny smile, "I'm a closet nerd. How else do you think I managed to turn myself into a canine, even if that was a side effect and not what I was initially aiming for." Tetsu had burst out giggling again.

Tetsu and Moriko's replacements arrived on time and the two kunoichi met them as they entered the patrol area. They'd packed their belongings the night before (and Moriko had been distracted from it when Iruka had asked her where she learned to seal objects, which led to another theoretical debate which left Tetsu and Genma horribly confused) and led the newcomers, who neither of the kunoichi recognized, to the camp before gathering their backpacks and bidding Iruka and Genma, who had returned to get a quick lunch, goodbye and made them swear to find them when they got back to Konoha the next week.

Tetsu and Moriko were finally on their way back to Konoha when Moriko couldn't help but turn to her new friend and ask, "So what did you think of your first boarder patrol?"

Tetsu had snorted wryly and rolled her shoulders before saying, "It definitely wasn't was boring as I thought it would be."

"Well, it can't always be boring." Moriko replied with a grin.

They got back to Konoha without incident and each submitted their mission reports to the Hokage before heading off to their homes for some much needed sleep after swapping promises to meet up again soon.

Moriko swung by the Inuzuka compound on her way back to her house and was promptly tackled by all three of her cousins who'd attacked her with a unified joyful cry of "Moriko!"

Too tired to avoid the three, and not really wanting to, she subjected herself to a running tackle by Mai and a laughing Kiba, while Hana shook her head and stood nearby, although she couldn't stop the wide grin on her face.

"Ow, that kinda hurt you two." Moriko said from her spot on the ground, which she found to be remarkably comfortable for dirt path. "With this kind of a reaction, you'd think I was gone for a year and not for two weeks." She told them and gave her cousin's a once over to check for any injuries.

"But two weeks is a long time!" Kiba complained as he sat on Moriko's stomach, which made her laugh and bounce him a bit.

"It's not too long, plus, I got to meet your sensei because he needed to run a mission once your class was let out for winter break." Moriko told him, Kiba looked a bit frightened. "Don't worry, pup, he didn't share too many embarrassing stories about you and your classmates, plus I already knew you were a brat, so no surprise there." Moriko sat up, snatching up the nine year old boy and tossing him easily over her shoulder before turning to her two older cousins, "I know it's a big clan head meeting tonight," she told Hana with a grin and a wink, "So she probably told you to make you and your brother something healthy, right?"

Hana giggled and nodded.

Moriko gave Mai and Hana a wide grin and said, "Well, I for one don't want to deal with grocery shopping tonight, so what do you three say to coming out to dinner with me?"

A cheer was taken up by the three and Moriko grinned wider, 'Damn, I really missed this. Pack.' She thought and the four of them set out for Moriko's house so she could at the very least drop her backpack off.

-

**End Note:** Ahhh embarrassing moments…Bwahaha…I love tormenting Moriko, and Iruka too I guess. They're so easy to embarrass. More Inuzuka's again. Including teasing Hana, tackling Mai, and cuddly Kiba. I seriously just want to cuddle him. 

**Word Count:** 45,066 / 50,000

**-Greygryph**


	16. Chapter 16

**Title:** Konoha's Tracking Hound

**Author:** Greygryph

**Rating:** R

**Summary:** Inuzuka Moriko was just another Konoha kunoichi. Nobody ever said that Konoha's shinobi population was normal though.

**Disclaimer:** I, obviously own nothing you recognize. Inuzuka Moriko, however, is mine and I would very much appreciate it if nobody tried to steal her as she's been living in the back corner of my mind for about half a year and I'm quite fond of her. Other original characters, who may or may not make appearances, are either my own or belong to my friends who are, also quite fond of them. Please don't steal or accuse me of stealing. Its just silly.

**Notes:** My NaNoWriMo project for the month, so obviously a work in progress and completely and utterly unedited. Based off of one of my original characters in an RPG amongst my close friends. My plan to fend off summer break boredom spawned into a monster beyond my control and I decided it was time some of the back story was written. Cannon is followed as much as possible, but this is obviously AU.

**Warnings:** SPOILERS and VERY AU and ADULT THEMES

-

**Chapter 16**

It was a week later when Moriko found Tetsu's familiar chakra signature amongst the chaotic mash of the clashing signatures of everyone else in Konoha. With a grin to Kumori she altered her course and followed the woman's signature into a small weapon's shop where she found the woman deep in discussion with the shopkeeper—who also looked like a blacksmith—about blades and blade care, which all sounded like a confusing mash of gibberish to Moriko, and noticed a girl standing nearby watching the conversation with enthusiasm.

The girl, whom Moriko guessed was an academy student judging by the confident way she held herself and the kunai and shurinken hostler she had tied to one leg. Her hair was pulled up into dual buns on top of her hair and she wore a sleeveless, high collared shirt of a pale pink material. Moriko slipped next to the girl, not even trying to hide her movement as she did so—both the blacksmith and her friend were too absorbed in their conversation to notice much else.

The girl however, glanced over at Moriko curiously when she stopped nearby.

Moriko flashed the girl a grin and asked, "How long have they been at this?"

The girl shrugged, "I only got here five minutes ago and tou-san and Tetsu-san were already talking."

Moriko shook her head and observed for another long moment before pitching her voice over to her friend and saying, "Now I understand why you would complain when me and Iruka talk about jutsus when you're around. I didn't understand half of what you just said, Tetsu."

"Call it Karma, Moriko!" Tetsu shot back but the smile she flashed Moriko told her that she was very happy to see the small Inuzuka woman who made a childish face in retaliation.

The blacksmith let out a bark of laughter that would do any Inuzuka proud and looked critically at Moriko while scratching his stubble-bearded chin. "What kind of a weapon do you use, Moriko, was it? I'm assuming you're an Inuzuka."

Moriko nodded her head in confirmation but gave a sigh and said, "I've unfortunately found that I've no skill with weapons besides kunai, shurinken and my own body. Put my poor tou-san to shame in that account, he wielded a kodachi and tried to teach me—it never took."

The blacksmith's eyes brightened in recognition, "Ah, you're Inuzuka Hige's daughter than? He was a good man, talented with that blade too. Shame his lesson's didn't take, although I can see why, you're a bit small for a blade." He tapped his chin several times as he ran through weapons that would suit the tiny woman.

Moriko nodded her thanks for the complement to her father and said, "I get along fine with my own claws and fangs, do you mind if I steal Tetsu for a moment before I let you continue your discussion on—what was it? Ah, yes! Perfered brand of whet stone for sharpening specific blades, I think. I've no idea." The blacksmith let out another bark of laughter and nodded while Tetsu followed Moriko a little ways away.

"I'm glad I found you, I wanted to see if you were interested in coming over for dinner, the dunce duo will be there along with a few others, I don't think Genma and Iruka are back yet though, or I'd ask them to come too." Moriko said and grinned when Tetsu's grin widened with excitement.

"Yes! I've been trying to find Kotetsu and Izumo for a while but I can never spot them. Tell me when and where and I'll be there!" the kunoichi said and Moriko gave her directions to her house and told her to show up some time before 6.

That done, she surrendered her friend back over to the blacksmith who'd been joined by his young daughter while Moriko had spoken with Tetsu and the discussion stared up once more, this time with the young girl piping in every so often. The Inuzuka had the sneaking suspicion that Konoha would be having a new weapon wielding kunoichi soon.

Tetsu arrived around 5:30 that night. Moriko had been following her chakra signature as she'd tentatively approached the good sized house. When she knocked on the front door however, Moriko's hands were both occupied and she turned towards the entranceway and pitched her voice so that she was sure Tetsu would hear it, "Come in! The door's open!"

The door opened slowly and Tetsu called, "Moriko?"

"In here," She called and heard Kumori get up from where he sprawled under the butcher block table to help the kunoichi out. Tetsu was glancing around curiously as she entered the kitchen.

Moriko turned to face her, spatula in hand and a comical apron proclaiming "Beware the Cook" in a style reminicant to most "Beware of Dog" signs tied around her neck. "Welcome to my house, which basically doubles as a headquarters to most chunnin or jounins at one point or another," Moriko said with a roll of her eyes.

"Its nice!" Tetsu said spinning in a circle around the kitchen and catching sight of a few photos stuck to the fridge with magnets. She leaned in closer and spotted some candid shots of Moriko with a trio of other Inuzuka children, an old photo of a young Moriko with who Tetsu assumed was her father sharpening a large pile of kunai and shurinken. There was the standard team shot of her with Izumo, Kotetsu and their sensei who Tetsu knew was named Raidou. There was a photo of Moriko in her canine form playing with the same three Inuzuka children she had seen earlier.

Tetsu eventually tore her eyes away from the photos as Moriko said, "There're drinks in the fridge and you can go ahead and take a seat, Izumo and Kotetsu are incoming and should be bursting through the door—"

The kitchen door had slammed open at that point and Izumo and Kotetsu stood happily in the doorway, "Mori-chan, we come bearing gifts!" Kotetsu crowed out and lifted up small white bag with a tiny label on it, Moriko had glanced their direction and instantly let out an excited squeal that Tetsu wasn't sure she'd ever expected to hear from the normally calm woman.

"Thank you!" Moriko cried and snatched up the bag, hugging it close and leaping excitedly over to the counter where Moriko saw a simple teapot. Moriko opened the bag and stuck her nose in happily, inhaling deeply and instantly slumping in relaxation. Tetsu caught a whiff and couldn't help but giggle, the woman was estatic over jasmine tea.

The giggle caught Izumo and Kotetsu's attention and they almost instantly pounced on her, "Tetsu! Its about time Moriko got you to come to one of her dinners!" Izumo said happily.

Moriko had set her kettle of water on the remaining empty burner and was spooning some tea leaves into the teapot while keeping a careful eye on the food she had cooking.

The two chunnin men took seats at the table with happy sighs after they each snatched a beer from the fridge. Kotetsu let his head fall back in obvious exhaustion while Izumo streatched his arms up above his head and cracked his neck before asking, "So who else do you expect to show up?"

Moriko was leaning against one of the counters and watching the kettle like a hawk, waiting for the water to heat, "Well, Mai-chan's out of town on a C-class mission so she won't be home until tomorrow I think, and Raidou's still out of town, so, unless we have a very unexpected guest show up, Kakashi's probably the only one we can depend on coming."

Izumo nodded and took a sip of his beer. Sure enough, a short time later, there was a poof of smoke in the kitchen and the familiar form of the tall, gangly, silver-haired jounin appeared, hand raised in greeting.

"Yo!" the perverted jounin called and let his hand drop.

Moriko was happily pouring water in her teapot and barely glanced up at his enterance, "Ah, you're not horribly late this time, Kakashi! It's amazing!" she teased and then glanced up and noticed Kakashi was watching Tetsu curiously. "Ah, Kakashi, this is Yoshida Tetsu, she was my partner on my last boarder patrol. Tetsu, this is Hatake Kakashi, he's one of my loyal moochers."

Kakashi pouted a bit at the title but nodded in Tetsu's direction and nodded before taking one of the remaining empty seats around the table.

"Right, anyone but me want some tea?" Moriko asked as she pulled down a large mug from a cupboard.

"I'll take some, I could use some caffine right now." The jounin said, so Moriko pulled a second mug from the cupboard and passed it to Kakashi before crossing to the table with her own mug and the teapot, setting them down on the table she headed back to the stove and turned off all the burners after surveying the food critically.

"Right, food's done, someone want to grab a stack of plates while I get this into serving dishes?"

Kotetsu jerked himself out of the chair and opened up one of the larger cupboards and pulled out a stack of dinner plates while Izumo followed behind him, gathering eating utensils from a nearby drawer and passing them out while Kotetsu passed the plates around.

Moriko placed dinner down and took her seat, happily filling her mug with tea and taking a long sip even before she served herself food.

Kotetsu snorted at the action and swallowed his mouthful of food before glancing at Tetsu and pointing to Moriko with his empty fork, "Moriko's an addict, like most of the shinobi population above chunnin rank. Kakashi may have his smut books," Kakashi rolled his eyes but didn't deny anything, "but Moriko is completely addicted to her tea."

Moriko stuck her tongue out at the wild haired man as she filled her plate with food.

"You can't deny it, Moriko-chan." Izumo said, sending her a teasing grin, "You have gone through withdrawal several times before." Izumo turned to address the newest member of the dinner party and said, "She gets downright evil when she's going through withdrawal."

Moriko shrugged, "I'm not going to deny it, because I have one fond memory of such a time where I do believe I made you run into a tree during a sparing match because of my irritability and your unending mocking."

Tetsu burst out laughing at the mental image of a grumpy Moriko glaring at her teammates and them running straight into a tree.

"Hey! It was a genjutsu!" Kotetsu protested after pouting a bit, "You're ruining my reputation!"

Kakashi looked surprised, "You had a reputation?"

Kotetsu glared and turned his head away from the jounin, "I hate you." He announced much to the amusement of others seated around the table.

"So," Izumo said, turning attention away from his best friend and grinning at Tetsu, "So, any fun stories you want to share from the time you spent traveling?"

Tetsu put down her fork and tapped her chin in contemplation, "Well, I do have one…" she began and relayed to the three other ninja a very entertaining story about one of the training exercises she'd had to complete which involved getting specific bits of information out of normal men in a bar using nothing but copious amounts of flirtation and her natural charisma. It ended with one man trying desperately to flirt back, despite the fact that he was well and truly drunk, and how Tetsu had craftily avoided the man for the rest of the night.

The story had lasted until everyone had finished their meal and Kakashi's face was hidden behind his usual orange smut book. Moriko indicated that Tetsu ignore the man, who was still listening but also browsing over the page lazily. That only lasted until Tetsu had relayed one of the more memorable pickup lines and her wonderfully witty responses to it. At that point Kakashi's visible eye widened comically and he stared over at Tetsu, then glanced at the book.

"Dear lord!" he exclaimed and flipped a few pages back and reread something before staring hard at Tetsu, he pointed a finger accusingly at her, "You're Katsumi!"

Everyone stared blankly at Kakashi for a second before Tetsu suddenly scowled and snatched the orange book which was being held loosly in the shocked jounin's book. The nineteen year old woman read a single paragraph and cursed, "That damn perverted man!" She growled lowly, "I'm going to castrate him if I ever see him again." She received nothing but blank stares from Moriko, Izumo, and Kotetsu so she elaborated, "Me and my sensei ran into Jiraiya somewhere in Tea country and he taught me a few things about information gathering and quickly detecting and getting rid of perverts." She let out a strangled growl, "He wrote me into his smutty written porn! Ugh, he should be arrested for that." She said with a shiver.

"why?" Kakashi asked, finally snapping out of his stupor and looking appauled.

Tetsu sent him a bland look, "I was barely seventeen when I met him."

There was a collective wince around the table and Moriko reached across the table to pat her on the arm, "Don't worry, I'll help you find him to kill him."

Kakashi made a mental note to find a way to warn his favorite author about the two vengeful kunoichi before they had a chance to maim him.

A few days later, Moriko woke to a chakra signature flickering into existence just outside her house. Years of being a kunoichi and many near death experiences had made the woman slightly paranoid and a light sleeper. She was awake instantly and reading as much information as she could from the signature just outside her front door.

She was already half down the stairs, still clad in her pajamas—an oversized t-shirt with some logo that had long since faded and a pair of men's athletic shorts—when the shinobi outside knocked on the front door.

Moriko opened the door curiously and somewhat blearily and found one of the many chunnin employed in the Hokage tower outside the door along with a frigid blast of air.

"Sorry for waking you up, Inuzuka-san, but Hokage-sama sent me to inform you that he has a mission that requires your expertise that starts in a few hours." The unnamed chunnin said, and Moriko tried to fit a name to his face but failed without the aid of caffeine this early.

'Speaking of early…' she began and peered at the barely visible light of dawn on the horizon, blinking slowly she simply nodded to the man and accepted the summons scroll before shutting the door and heading for the kitchen. She set her kettle on the burner and pulled out her teapot before shuffling back upstairs to her bedroom to dress. She exchanged her usual long sleved fishnet shirt, olive reinforced shirt, and thick padded capris for the warmer longsleved, long legged dark blue uniform and her chunnin vest. It looked like snow would be coming soon, so it was a better outfit for the cold weather. She wrapped up the bottom of the pants—which were the smallest adult size and still too big—to keep them from flapping around and did the same for the sleves before adding her leather and steel armbraces on top.

Nudging her feet into the uniform sandals, which somehow never left her feet cold despite being open toed, she went to her bed and gently shook the giant charcoal dog that was sprawled on it and snoring quite loudly.

"it's a very good thing you don't snore when we're on missions, Kumori," she told the dog as he opened his eyes sleepily, "They can probably hear you all the way up in Lightning country."

"Moriko, its too early for bantering…why are you dressed? Why are you even up this early?" the dog grumpled and sat up, unleashing a massive yawn that exposed all of his teeth.

"Hokage-sama sent someone with a summons scroll. We've got a mission in a few hours." Moriko said and heard her kettle screaming for attention downstairs and went to go silence it.

A minute later her tea was steeping in her pot and she was breaking the seal on the scroll and quickly reading the contents. Kumori appeared soon afterwards and Moriko let him out back to relieve himself before pouring her tea and taking a long sip. The sudden surge of the bitterly flavoured water woke her up almost instantly, and she went about fixing a quick breakfast for herself and setting out Kumori's food as she got past the boring stuff and found what to expect.

"In town mission, lasting…three weeks." Moriko told Kumori as she let the dog back in and he headed for his food.

"Any clue what it is?" the ninken asked between bites

"Not even one." Moriko sighed and glanced at the mission briefing time, in roughly twenty minutes, before digging into her own meal and finishing off her own tea.

Twenty minutes later exactly, Moriko found herself standing in the Hokage's office staring blankly at the aging shinobi.

"You want me to…what?" Moriko asked, still not quite believing her ears.

"Teach a tracking course at the academy, it's a very useful skill to have even if they don't specialize in it. You're probably one of the best candidates we have because you know the material and I know you've taught your cousins tricks before, so you can work with children." The Hokage leaned back in her chair and, although he let no smile show on his face, amusement twinkled in his eyes and Moriko's somewhat flabbergasted face.

After imitating a goldfish for a moment she snapped out of her daze and sighed, "Fine. I'm assuming I start today?"

The Hokage beamed and nodded his head, "Iruka and Tetsu can fill you in on things when you get to the academy."

Moriko cocked her head to the side, frowning thoughtfully, "Tetsu? Why's she at the academy?"

"Ah, the normal teacher for the kunoichi class caught mono and she's substituting for her." Sarutobi said, picking up his pipe from next to his stack of paperwork and idly filling it with tobacco.

Moriko nodded hesitantly and picked up the mission scroll, idly breaking the seal and browsing over the contents as she waved distractedly to the Hokage and slipped out of his office. As she read the scroll, she allowed her feet to tread the well known path from the tower, with Kumori pressed against her side, lending the woman slight direction when she started to stay away from the quickest route from the tower.

When she finished reading it, she rolled the scroll up and slipped it into one of the scroll pouches in her vest. Heaving a sigh she shoved her hands in her pocket and headed towards the shinobi academy at a brisk jog, intent on getting out of the cold as soon as she could.

'It feels strange to be back at the Academy,' Moriko mused as she found herself once more entering the hallways of the building. She glanced around the corridors curiously, finding that it felt strangely small now, even though Moriko was still the smallest shinobi in Konoha above the age of 18.

She found a very familiar pair of chakra signatures and followed it through the hallways to where she remembered the teachers lounge was located.

She found the door open when she arrived and stuck her head in, "Hello? Iruka? Tetsu?" she called, not immediately spotting her two friends in the lounge. There was a large central research desk with tall shelves that hid much of the room from view.

"Moriko!" Tetsu called excitedly and appeared from behind the research desk and bounded across the room happily. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, so you're who the Hokage got to teach the tracking class, eh Moriko?" Iruka said as he leaned out from behind the desk where Tetsu had been moments before. He had a wide, happy smile on his face.

Moriko grinned back and turned her eyes back to Tetsu who beamed at the news, "You'll be here for weeks then! Great! I'll have someone else to bug! I think Iruka's getting sick of me pestering him and I've only been here for two days!"

Iruka rolled his eyes and stood, gathering his stack of graded homework assignments, "Do you have any idea what you're going to do or are you winging it?" he asked the small woman with a grin.

Moriko rolled her eyes and said, "Well, seeing as I was only told my mission, what? Ten minutes ago? I'm pretty sure 'winging it' is all I can do at this point."

Tetsu blinked, "Ten minutes ago? Damn, even I had a whole day's warning. You have any ideas?"

Moriko shrugged, "I need to get a gage on how much they all already know, so I'll be starting out with some of the games I started my cousins on. How long do we have with each class?" The direction was directed at the chunnin academy teacher.

Iruka scratched the scar on his nose in thought then said, "Well, you have one hour with each class every day, and free reign of academy training grounds four and five—Do you remember which ones those are?"

Moriko cocked her head to the side in thought and said, "Those were the all-terrain ones, right? It's only been…eleven years since I was last here." She paused and shook her head, "Okay, maybe half my lifetime is a bit long…but still…" Iruka grinned and Tetsu snorted in amusement.

Moriko made a face at her friends but didn't retort, instead she turned back to Iruka and asked, "Do I get a schedule or something?"

Iruka looked embarrassed for a moment and said, "Ahh, Gomen! I almost forgot" he shifted his paperwork to one arm and began leafing through the stack for something then said, "Ah, ha!" and pulled out a single piece of paper and passing it to Moriko.

The Inuzuka accepted the schedule and glanced over it before looking at the clock in the lounge.

"Thanks Iruka." She said and sighed, "I should probably go take a look at the training grounds before all the kids get here." She folded up the schedule and stuck it in one of her pockets before giving her friends a weary grin and a lazy wave, which would have suited a certain silver haired jounin better than it did the petit woman.

Moriko slipped out of the academy and quickly found her way to the academy training grounds she'd been given. She took a quick walkthrough and found a few choice areas to demonstrate different tactics and what to look for in different terrains.

She found a comfortable spot near the academy where she'd pick up her classes. Her first class was one of the older classes, about a year away from graduating. She found a stump to sit on and decided to take her last few free minutes before her first class arrived to center herself and fell into a relaxed lotus position and fell into the pattern of deep breathing.

When she felt a group of new chakra signatures approaching her eyes snapped open and she grinned widely and slightly ferraly. In the back of her mind she felt Inu-Moriko stir, excited to be teaching pups something useful.

When the class arrived, they were greeted by the sight of a woman with flashing golden eyes sitting on a stump crosslegged, arms baraced on her knees and leaning forward, eager and slightly eerie grin plasered on her face displaying enlarged canine teeth. A massive charcoal dog lay next to the stump, watching the class with too intelligent eyes and a slight smirk.

The class's teacher smiled at her, "Here's your class, Inuzuka-san, I'll meet them all back here in an hour, ne?"

Moriko nodded and turned her attention back to the class as the shinobi vanished, probably off to work on paperwork.

She let her eyes roam over the class, all of whom were displaying some form of nervousness although a few—a Hyuuga boy especially—hid it better than their classmates. She spotted the girl from the weapons shop she'd found Tetsu in a few days earlier along with a few faces she recognized from around the village.

"Right," she finally said, once she decided the ten and eleven year olds had stewed long enough under her gaze, and stood easily from her cross legged position and stood before her class, a un-intimidating five feet tall, "My name is Inuzuka Moriko, but i guess you can call me Moriko-sensei, and I'm going to teach you to track. Let me say right now, I don't care who you are, or where you stand in class ranking. No matter if you are at the top of your class or at the bottom, all I care about is whether or not you put effort into my class. I will, however, care if you show myself or any of your teammates and form of disrespect while you are in my presence. I also don't care if you do not plan to specialize in tracking. Following tails and finding people isn't the only thing I will be teaching you. By teaching you to follow trails, I will also be teaching you to cover your own trail so people cannot find you." She fixed her class with a stare and a smirk crossed her lips.

She was pleased to hear several gulps from the students. 'Maa, I guess Inu-Moriko also represents my inner sadist as well' she mused and said, "Right, lets start out by taking a look and seeing what you all already know." She gave a sharp whistle and Kumori was on his feet and darting into the forest cover, already knowing what Moriko had in mind. "That was Kumori, my ninken, he's laying a trail for you to follow. I'll be sending you in groups to try and follow his trail. No using bloodlines if you can help it. I'll whistle for each new group to head in after Kumori, I will be watching so don't think you can slack off. Now, get into groups of…lets say three…I trust you can all do that without excluding anyone." There were nods amongst the students and Moriko grinned, "Right! Form your groups and line up. Remember, you're following Kumori's trail, not your classmates'." That said she leapt backwards into the trees and disappeared from the students' senses.

Moriko grinned to herself and formed a few hand signs, setting up a surveillance jutsu so she could keep an eye on all the groups at once, 'Let the games begin.' She thought and placed her fngers in her mouth and let loose a sharp, shrill whistle.

Moriko's first day of teaching progressed as such. Every new period she gave a similar introduction and had all the classes run the same exercise. When it was done she dragged herself back into the academy, planning to warm up a bit, and talk with Iruka and Tetsu. When she entered the teachers lounge hand half collapsed into one of the empty seats several of the teachers sent her amused looks. She let her head fall limply back as she sprawled in the chair

"Hey, Moriko," Iruka said and took a seat behind her, "How did you like your first day of teaching?" his grin was only slightly evil as he said, "Only, what? Twenty-three more days?"

Moriko glared at him as she watched him upside down, "Iruka, you are evil." The chunnin laughed and Moriko sighed, letting her eyes slide shut, "You are also amongst the bravest people I know." She looked around at all the academy teachers upside down. "All of you are. I'm more tired than I've ever been before in my life. How do you do it?"

There were scattered chuckles and Tetsu's voice piped up from nearby, "collapsing immediately afterwards." She said and Moriko lifted her head to find Tetsu leaning against one of the tables, two steaming mugs in hand. She passed Moriko one of the mugs.

Moriko sent the woman a grateful look and took a long sip of the over strong tea the mug contained. She happily nursed the mug while the other teachers worked on grading.

When Moriko finished, she felt much warmer and more human than before. Sighing she sat up and found Tetsu grinning at her in a way that made her somewhat nervous.

"Ne, Iruka, I think we should take Moriko out for a drink to celebrate her survival of her first day as a teacher. What do you think?" she asked the scarred chunnin.

Iruka paused and nodded, sending Moriko a smile while replying to Tetsu, "I think that sounds like a good idea. Let me finish up these and we can head out." He said indicating the papers he was grading.

"Perfect!" Tetsu chirped happily, "That gives Moriko time to clean up." To the tawny haired woman she said, "You smell like sweat and dirt? What did you have all the brats doing today? When I got a kunoichi class after you'd had them, they all looked exhausted and scratched up."

Moriko didn't look at all insulted by the comment, she was too used to the scents by now that she didn't even notice. "Ma, I just had them following Kumori's trail through the training grounds."

"A few of them complained that Kumori went through brambles and stinging knettles." Iruka commented, not even lifting his eyes from the homework he was grading.

Moriko sent Kumori a glance and the dog looked sheepish, to Iruka and the other academy teachers she rubbed the back of her head and said, "oops?"

-

**End Note:** Okay, so NaNoWriMo's been over for almost a month and I'm finally posting this, but I swear I did finish it during November. Mai's creator can attest to this.  I will be continuing this eventually, I've got too many bunnies to completely leave it alone, but I will be working at a slower pace.

Anyways…Tetsu and Moriko as academy teachers…flee in terror. I have a few doodles of Moriko's evil grin when she's sitting on the stump and it kinda scares me. Getting to write cannon characters as kids is very fun. Seriously, though, I think teachers are some of the bravest people I know. Dealing with kids all the time…I taught a summer camp of 5 year olds and I wanted to tear my hair out and I probably became the jumpiest people on earth after trying to keep them from getting hurt…any teachers out there, you have my eternal respect.

**End Word Count**: 50,069/50,000

**-Greygryph**


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